9666
Title Of Article Chaper
Potassium-argon ages of schist honestones from the Viking Age sites at Kaupang (Norway), Aggersborg (Denmark), Hedeby (West Germany) and Wolin (Poland), and their archaeological implications
Title Of Journal Book
Journal of archaeological science
Volume
11
Issue
2
Pages
171-176
Language Of Text
English
Literature Type
Serial
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
Viking age honestones from four large sites in northern Europe have been made from two different types of quartz-muscovite schist: one dark grey, very fine-grained schist, and a light grey, fine-grained schist. In order to determine the provenance of these schist hones, potassiumargon ages have been determined on 16 selected representative hones. The dark grey schist hones yield Caledonian ages of 403-446 Ma, and consideration of petrographic evidence leads to the conclusion that the hones were quarried in the Caledonian area (presumably) of westernNorway. The light grey schist hones are Precambrian, with potassium-argon ages of 931-946 Ma, and are presumed to originate from Telemark, south Norway. The amount and homogeneity of these honestone groups from different parts of the Viking world indicate the existence of large quarries, and demonstrate that production and trade were more wide-ranging than had hitherto been assumed.
Keywords
Norway;Kaupant, Eidsborg, Denmark, Aggersborg, West Germany, Hedeby, Poland, Wolin, Viking, Potassium-Argon Age, Petrology, Honestone, Schist, Trade; Dating potassium-argon; Stone honestone provenance;Caledonia, Norway; Stone petrology;Viking Age;Stone quarry; Telemark, Norway AATA
pub_id
9666