After a period of economic decline and regionalization of the “Dark Ages”, the eastern Mediterranean witnessed a revival of long-distance maritime trade in the 9th-10th centuries. An archaeological indicator of these processes are the amphorae of new types, which are distributed over a wide area in the Mediterranean and Europe, reaching the British Isles and southern Scandinavia.
In Eastern Europe, amphorae are common in the Early Rus’ where they have been found at more than 260 sites dating back to the 10th-13th centuries. This was caused by close economic, political and cultural ties between Byzantium and Rus’ whose economies relied on trade. The Byzantine Empire was the source of technologies, religion and art adopted by Rus', and also, of glassware, glazed pottery, luxury and Christian religious items. Kyiv, in turn, was a major trading hub taking an active part in global transit trade.
The situation is different in Central Europe where finds of amphorae are recorded in smaller numbers on the territory of the so-called Cherven Towns, the western periphery of Rus’ and Byzantine Commonwealth. In Piast Poland such evidence is almost unknown (with the exception of Kraków) which may find an explanation in the economic and political history of the region.
The study of amphora has traditionally been used to reconstruct systems of commercial exchange and consumption patterns, as well as their links to cultural history and political events. Our research will help reconstruct not only the specifics of regional trade (within Rus'), but also the links between Byzantium and its northern periphery and provide clues for the mechanisms of global trade in Europe.
The finds from a number of sites in Poland (Czermno, Przemy?l, Kraków), as well as from Kyiv, were investigated. The authors applied both the typological and archaeometric methods. Petrographic study (optical microscopy) has shown clear petrographic markers based on the local geological differences as well as on the features of technology. With the SEM-EDX analysis, the elemental composition of the clay matrix and common clastic inclusions was identified. The bulk elemental analysis provided by WD-XRF allows for a more precise classification of samples and the identification of production sites. In this way, several compositional groups of amphorae, which probably came to Rus’ from several centers during the 10-13th centuries, were distinguished. Some of these centers may be identified, thanks to comparisons of the bulk elemental compositions with reference groups for the main types of Middle and Late Byzantine amphorae in Lyon laboratory database. However, other centers are revealed as well, which may indicate trade dynamics specific to Central and Eastern Europe, distinct from the Mediterranean's.
The study was prepared with the financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation.