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Weight systems in the Scandinavian Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mats P. Malmer*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Stockholm University, S-181 61 Stockholm, Sweden

Extract

The current received view is that the economy of the Bronze Age of northern Europe was based on gift exchange rather than trade. This paper, based on a comparative analysis of three groups of Scandinavian bronze and gold artefacts – bronze statuettes of ‘goddesses with necklets’, golden ‘oath rings’ and Fårdrup bronze axes – suggest that there were one or more standard weight systems in use in Bronze Age Scandinavia. The author uses these data to state a case for a trade economy, reminiscent of the Mycenaean world.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1992

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