Remarkable Journeys of Early Medieval Silver - with Dr. Jane Kershaw & Prof. Rory Naismith

In this episode, Dr. Jane Kershaw and Prof. Rory Naismith discuss the origins, sources, and circulation of a revolutionary silver coin currency during the ‘long 8th century’ in early medieval northwestern Europe.

Jane and Rory are co-authors of a transformative new study, which can be read about in the Antiquity Open Access paper, ‘Byzantine plate and Frankish mines: the provenance of silver in north-west European coinage during the Long Eighth Century (c. 660–820)’ – Jane Kershaw, Stephen W. Merkel, Paolo D’Imporzano and Rory Naismith (2024).

Jane and Rory explore the remarkable provenance of this silver, its composition, and sources, including the initial use of recycled Byzantine metal from the Eastern Roman Empire and the subsequent dominance of Frankish mined silver. Speaking with Dr. Tom Horne and Luke Barry, Jane and Rory highlight the importance of their research in shedding light on this fascinating period of northwestern European history, with its huge characters like Charlemagne and Offa and its vital economic and exchange developments, and the potential of their new, minimally-destructive, analytical methodology for future study.

Read the Antiquity Open Access paper: ‘Byzantine plate and Frankish mines: the provenance of silver in north-west European coinage during the Long Eighth Century (c. 660–820)’ – Jane Kershaw, Stephen W. Merkel, Paolo D’Imporzano and Rory Naismith (2024) https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.33

Listen to this podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3gfoBR1...

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast...

Follow us on X:
Red River Archaeology: https://x.com/ArchaeologyRed
Rubicon Heritage Services: https://x.com/rubiconheritage

Follow us on Instagram:
Red River Archaeology:   / redriverarchaeology  
Rubicon Heritage Services:   / rubicon_heritage  

Like us on Facebook:
Red River Archaeology:   / redriverarchaeology  
Rubicon Heritage Services:   / rubiconheritage  

Visit our website:
https://www.redriverarchaeology.com/

#archaeology #science #history