Forging History: Spade-Shaped Currency Bars, History and Identity in Central Norrland

Marta Lindeberg

doi:10.37718/csa.2010.13

Abstract

In central Norrland a large number of spade-shaped currency bars have been recovered. Currency bars have been produced since the introduction of iron technology in the late pre-Roman Iron Age, which roughly coincides with the introduction of agriculture. It is suggested that the shape of the bars is referential to the socketed axe, due to the importance of the latter during this period of change. The currency bars were therefore associated with a mythical history and local identity. The youngest 14C-date shows that the bars became part of narratives that remained relevant throughout much of the Iron Age, up until the Viking Age.

Highlights

In central Norrland a large number of spade-shaped currency bars have been recovered
The course of events that led up to this is still not altogether established, but it was sometime during the later parts of the pre-Roman Iron Age – when forests were cleared to give way to plots and fields in the coastal areas and when a local iron production was introduced in the interior – that the socketed axe became symbolically associated with this new way of life
The socketed axe was of paramount importance in the new way of life that came into existence around the time of the birth of Christ in central Norrland, and I suggest that this is why that shape was chosen for the currency bars

Summary

Marta Lindeberg

In central Norrland a large number of spade-shaped currency bars have been recovered. A GIFT OF FERTILITY The spade-shaped currency bars have previously been interpreted as trade iron and the hoards have been seen as temporary stores or hiding places where bars were deposited for various reasons in transit from producer to consumer (Enqvist 1943:72; Thålin 1967:315; Selinge 1977:377; Hallinder 1978:34) This is, contradicted by the sheer number of hoards that have been left in the ground and by the regularity of the find contexts, which strongly indicate that the intention was to bury the bars permanently. It is consistent that the placement of currency bar hoards at the edges of waterways and bogs – the places where the ore was collected – is more common inland, where the iron production took place, whereas hoards from the coastal areas are located more generally at the edges of the settlement districts

THE SHAPE OF THE BARS

LATER CURRENCY BARS AND ANALOGIES

THE SOCKETED AXE

HISTORY AND MYTHICAL BEGINNINGS

CONCLUSION