New research into a remarkable Viking-Age silver hoard discovered in North Yorkshire, led by Dr Jane Kershaw , Associate Professor of Viking Age Archaeology, School of Archaeology, has shed light on the international scope of Viking wealth - revealing that a significant proportion of the silver originated not from local raids, but from long-distance trade networks extending deep into the Islamic world.
The study used geochemical analysis to trace the origins of silver ingots and jewellery items from the Bedale hoard, discovered in 2012. The results show that while the bulk of the silver derives from western European sources - likely from Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian coinage acquired through raiding or ransom - a substantial portion originated from Islamic silver coinage, or dirhams, transported via Scandinavian trade routes.
The hoard, which includes 29 silver ingots and several elaborate neck-rings, dates to the late ninth or early tenth century and reflects the blending of different cultural and economic influences in Viking Age England. Significantly, the analysis confirms that the Vikings did not rely solely on looting to accumulate wealth, but also participated in far-reaching commercial networks stretching across Europe and into the Middle East and Central Asia.
Dr Jane Kershaw
Dr Jane Kershaw
'Most of us tend to think of the Vikings primarily as raiders, who looted monasteries and other wealthy places in search of wealth. What the analysis of the Bedale hoard shows is that that is only part of the picture.
'The Vikings did loot and pillage - and some of that wealth is preserved in the rings and ingots in the hoard. But they also made great profits from long-distance trade routes connecting northern Europe to the Islamic Caliphate. We can now see that they brought large quantities of this Islamic silver with them when they established settlements in England.
'I love to think how Bedale - today a quintessentially English market town in north Yorkshire - was, in the Viking Age, at the heart of a much wider, Eurasian Viking economy. 'The Vikings weren't only extracting wealth from the local population, they were also bringing wealth with them when they raided and settled'
Using a combination of lead isotope and trace element analyses, the team, including researchers at the British Geological Survey, identified three principal sources of silver in the hoard: western European coinage, Islamic dirhams, and mixed sources reflecting a blend of both. Notably, nine of the ingots - accounting for nearly a third of the hoard's silver - were geochemically matched to silver minted in the Islamic Caliphate, particularly in regions corresponding to modern-day Iran and Iraq. This silver would have reached Scandinavia via the eastern trade routes known as the Austrvegr, and then travelled onwards to England.
The findings also reveal that Viking metalworkers in both Scandinavia and England refined some of the silver using locally available lead, such as from the North Pennines, suggesting sophisticated metalworking practices and local production. One striking object, a large neck-ring formed from multiple twisted rods, appears to have been cast using a blend of eastern and western silver, possibly in northern England.
The analysis contributes to a growing body of evidence that Viking wealth acquisition was more complex and interconnected than previously believed. While military campaigns and the extraction of tribute remained important, they were part of a broader economic strategy that included commercial exchange, melting down of imported coins, and recasting silver into standardised ingots and jewellery for circulation within the Scandinavian bullion economy.
The research underscores how scientific techniques such as geochemical analysis can illuminate the economic foundations of Viking settlement and integration in England.
Read the article ' The provenance of silver in the Viking-Age hoard from Bedale, North Yorkshire ', in Archaeometry.
