ABSTRACT
In this chapter, smaller co-operating communities are chosen as the physical delimitation for the study of Scandinavian regions. East Central Sweden, the landscape around Lake Mälaren, is under survey. The geographic scope is the ‘provision province’ (försörjningsområde) or ‘settlement district’ (bygd). This chapter includes a group of districts supplementing each other with varying resources and maintaining social variability at 25 to 40 kilometres’ distance. It can be argued that the producers of household vessels were disowned individuals. Slaves as carriers of pottery traditions are used to interpret interaction within and between communities. The distribution of slaves, like other commodities, then exposes a political and social geography of communities. The interrelationship and spreading of local Viking-Age ware, Baltic Finnic ware, Rus’ ware, normal Baltic ware and simple Baltic ware is the data set for the interpretation. The results show two distribution patterns. One is a network along the waterway from Södertörn in Sörmland to Uppsala. In this narrow corridor, a specific form of simple Baltic ware is found. Also, a few normal Baltic ware vessels were in use along this route close to Sigtuna, indicating minor interaction with the town. The other pattern shows smaller ‘provision provinces’ where similar styles of pots were in use. These could indicate spheres of political interest or kinship relations expressing community affiliations. Another outcome is an interpretation of how intensely slavery was used in the region, as well as the cultural identities of the thralls. A slow hybridisation process took place among local potters, with low acceptance of foreign styles and stable use of local Viking-Age ware, indicating that the slaves were few and born within the households.
