Lead Weight
Weights such as this one were a necessity if one wished to conduct trade and business in the Viking world, because otherwise it was impossible to ensure a fair deal. As a result, sets of weights were highly prized. There have been several different types of weights found, made from different materials and sizes, ranging from coins of different civilizations to plates of metal such as this one. Some are specific sets tailored to certain items or civilizations, such as silver bullion or the Byzantine Empire. One example of this is a Anglo-Saxon balance set found in Watchfield, Oxfordshire, in which there are Roman, Greek, and Byzantine coins, this suggests that different units were used to measure for different civilizations, allowing for trade but also the transaction of wealth from different mediums for example converting Roman currency to Byzantine currency.[1]
The evidence of such an extensive amount of weights and measures shows that the Norse and Anglo-Saxon societies were highly predicated on trade, having trading centers scattered across Europe. Due to their affinity for sailing and their superior technology Norse and Anglo-Saxon traders could travel far and wide without needing to stop, as they could navigate the both the open sea, the rivers, and the coastline efficiently. As accounts have them going so far as to meet with Muslim traders on the Volga river and sailing the Mediterranean to Constantinople, thus it is clear that the Norse had established an unprecedented trading empire.[2]
Weights would have been necessary to support a trading lifestyle, especially those who did business with people from the places such as the Mediterranean and Constantinople, because otherwise business would have been impossible due to the fact that the Norse people especially people who were Vikings did not usually use standard coinage instead preferring hack-silver, which was just chopped up pieces of silver.[3] Even still those who used standard coinage would have had varying amounts of silver and gold in the coins as seen. The standardization and use of weights throughout Viking society is what allowed many traders to establish highly profitable enterprises and bring goods back to their settlements. The goods that they would trade for would eventually end up as part of grave goods, which were goods buried with the dead, allowing scholars to be able to record and discover just how far the Vikings influence reached.
