ABSTRACT
Until fairly recently, discussions of medieval Byzantine trade have mostly concentrated on written sources. In contrast, archaeological evidence has not been considered as often as one might expect. However, studies of early and medieval Byzantine pottery, coins, lead seals and metalware clearly demonstrate that analysis of archaeological finds can yield significant results for research in commercial and non-commercial exchange. In particular, analysis of the circulation of artefacts through the use of distribution maps has proven to be especially informative for research in this field.2
