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Weight systems in the Scandinavian Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

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

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Antiquity , Volume 66 , Issue 251 , June 1992, pp. 377 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1992

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