BACK AND FORTH ALONG THE EASTERN SLAVE ROUTE. Archaeological traces of long-distance trafficking.

Summary

With the expansion of the Eastern trade route during the 9th and 10th centuries a regular contact with the markets of the Muslim world was established. Long-distance trafficking of slaves became an important commodity. It was a high risk venture that required a new level of organisation, control and logistics. The full extent of the trafficking is not known but it included moving people and goods in both ways along a route that offered little infrastructure and difficult terrain. Trafficking of this kind would inevitably have left its mark along the route. Focusing on the trade route from Eastern Scandinavia to the slave markets of the Volga Bulgar region this paper poses the question if it is possible to distinguish the archaeology of the slave trade?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Captivity and Slavery in Viking Age Scandinavia

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