Hedenstierna-Jonson,Charlotte 2020: `With Asia as neighbour: Archaeological evidence of contacts between Scandinavia and Central Asia in the Viking Age and the Tang Dynasty. in: Asia and Scandinavia – New perspectives on the Early Medieval Silk Roads. Bulletin 81, The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. StockholmIntroduction
To a modern-day Viking scholar, the regions of Central Asia may be perceived as both
geographically and culturally distant from early medieval Northern Europe and are subsequently often left out of history writing. Although an extensive numismatic material testifying contacts between Scandinavia and the Islamic world is continuously being researched and published, other kinds of archaeological evidence of these long-distance contacts are less known. The Scandinavian, and in particular Swedish, archaeological material includes several objects that appear exotic and out of place in the Viking-Age archaeological contexts in which they have been found. A general overview places their origins in a non-distinct “East” often referred to as “the Orient”. The “Eastern” connections in Viking-Age archaeology have come to include everything from the eastern Mediterranean to various nomadic regions of the Eurasian Steppes. Research topics have focused on the interactions between Scandinavians and Khazars, Volga-Bulghars and Magyars, but few recent archaeological studies go beyond the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea.
Within other disciplines there is however a revived interest in Islamic-Scandinavian interactions during this time period. Proceeding from the other end of the network of contacts, art historian and Samanid specialist Melanie Michailidis traces the transmission of images and designs between Central Asia and the Viking World, and emphasises the interactions along the so-called Fur Route.
A similar approach can be seen in the extensive work performed by the Oxford based Dirhams for Slaves project, where the numismatic material deriving from the Islamic world is contextualised and discussed as a reflection of the slave trade.
Within medieval history and Arabic studies new translations and interpretations of the textual sources are being made, including the famous accounts of Arabic traveller Ibn Fadlan and his encounter with Rus’ people on the Volga in the early tenth century.
In comparison with such eminent research the need for a renewed study of the
archaeological material in Scandinavia becomes evident.
This paper aims to highlight the rather heterogeneous archaeological evidence found within present day Sweden, to show its potential and hopefully to reduce the perceived gap between Scandinavia and Central Asia during the Viking Age. For an archaeologist and Viking specialist this task is filled with challenges, as it touches upon several disciplines and encompasses vast geographical regions. The compilation of evidence is not complete and the conclusions drawn may at times be rudimentary, but I firmly believe that in order to develop this particular field of research a starting point is needed. To quote Melanie Michailidis, “Crossing area boundaries in this way is an exercise almost as fraught with danger as travelling along the Volga in the tenth century, since no one can possibly speak with equal authority on two regions as geographically distant as Central Asia and Scandinavia.”
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