Medieval Islamic Copper Coins from European Russia and Surrounding Regions: The Use of the Fals in Early Islamic Trade with Eastern Europe

Abstract

Finds of medieval Islamic copper coins or fulis (sing. fals) from European Russia and adjoining regions possess several general characteristics. Fulis appear at very few of the sites containing Kufic and Sasanian coins and only one or two fulis are usually found in any one site. Furthermore fals finds are located along the periphery of these areas where most Kufic coin finds occur. Finally the few fulus from Russian finds appear to have had primarily an ornamental and commemorative function rather than a monetary value. Since copper Byzantine coins circulated in relatively large numbers over most areas of Russia, the paucity of Russian fals finds cannot be attributed to a bias against copper coins as such. Rather, it seems that the same factors which inhibited the circulation of fults within the Islamic world led to the systematic exclusion of the fals from the Islamic trade with Russia.