ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the exchanges across frontiers during the Viking Age. It concentrates on the evidence for the way in which transactions occurred, rather than the archaeological or documentary evidence for what was exchanged. The treaty drawn up between the Anglo-Saxons king Alfred and the Viking leader Guthrum, sometime between 886 and 890, is very short. The first clause deals with boundaries, the second with wergilds' and the third with oaths. A range of objects could be exchanged and, when silver was involved, it was often in large quantities. There may have existed implicit rules governing these non-trade exchanges. The evidence that can be brought to bear on the issue of foreign traders is both documentary and archaeological. Thus the weights at Birka, with their Arabic influence, may have been primarily designed to weigh out the coveted Arabic silver coins in return for the northern goods.
