Moravian Iron Money. Model of the 9th-Century Axe-Shaped Bars’ Genesis and Its Testing with the Assemblage from Staré Zámky near Brno-Líšeň
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | SLOVENSKA ARCHEOLOGIA |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://archeol.sav.sk/index.php/sk/slovenska-archeologia/ |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.31577/slovarch.2022.70.14 |
| Keywords | 9th century; Moravia; Western Slovakia; axe-shaped bars; social currency; general-purpose money |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The article offers a new perspective on the phenomenon of Moravian axe-shaped bars. It presents a new perspective seeing roots of axe-shaped bars in pre-Christian ritual behaviour. In this context, where practical function of original tools was suppressed, initial semi-finished products evolved into the earliest massive axe-shaped bars. These probably started to serve as a social currency (i.e. primitive money) and their value was probably derived from the weight of the iron commodity, and the intrinsic value of original tools (axes) respectively. The model presumes that since the beginning of their existence, the shrinking of their size and weight took place, probably because of gradual increase of iron scarcity. The shrinkage then gradually reached the stage when storing of a part of a weight unit was very difficult, because of the unforeseeable loss of iron mass during forging. As more precise weight could be projected into smaller bars only with difficulty, their values were probably disconnected from the intrinsic value of the iron, and started to be guaranteed by the issuing authority. The value started to be set arbitrarily in a different unit of account, and axeshaped bars started to be used as substitute tokens of general-purpose money within the Great Moravian commercialized economy. This model was then confronted with the assemblage of 78 axe-shaped bars from one of the major Great Moravian strongholds at Staré Zámky near Brno-Líšeň. The results of the evaluation including their classification into size categories and mapping of their spatial distribution within the stronghold corresponds with the predictions of the model. Although a hoard of medium-sized bars (i.e. size/weight category III b) was present on the site indicating that part of the assemblage may still serve as a social currency, most of the bars fell into small size categories (size/weight categories IV or V) and their spatial distribution shows that they freely circulated within the acropolis of the stronghold, and were probably lost during this daily usage. It thus indicates that they were used in the commercial exchange that took place within the stronghold’s market. |