Evidence for Slavic lead mining and trade: Early Rus’ lead seals from Czermno and Gródek on the Polish Rus’ border

Abstract

Both in Byzantium and by the Kievan Rus’, lead seals were used to signify ownership. Their stamped inscriptions and symbols are analogous to coinage and are a rich source of information on interaction and commerce. The Rus’ used them in the 11th-13th century CE as regular seals issued by rulers and church officials but also for sealing a specified number of furs exported from East European forests (creating ‘approved’ pelt bundles; so-called Drohiczyn seals). The latter are concentrated at Kievan Rus’-Polish border settlements, signalling cross-border exchange. Fourteen seals were analysed (Pb-isotope / trace elements) to investigate lead source and the direction of trade. The results of eleven suggest a connection to the nearby Olkusz lead mines in southern Poland (west of Cracow). This new evidence for lead transport from southern Poland to the Kievan Rus’ is of great significance for further research into reconstructing trade routes connecting Latin and Orthodox (Rus’) Europe. It show that trade routes ran not only through Scandinavia via Novgorod and from the Black Sea via Kiev but also laterally, linking Poland and Rus’.