Stycas, kings and Vikings: the copper-alloy revolution in 9th-century England

“这位博士将为中世纪早期最常见的英国硬币铜合金硬币提供新的视角。它们是在9世纪的诺森布里亚王国铸造的，取代了银币。通常认为，由于维京人的反复袭击和内战削弱了诺森布里亚王室的权威，公元867年，styca就停止了铸造和使用。公元900年诺森比亚恢复铸造时，是约克的维京国王使用银铸造的。然而，越来越多的证据表明，styca的使用甚至可能是铸造的，一直持续到9世纪后期（Woods 2019）。最近发现了数百个与维京“大军”有关的金属检测组合，这些“大军”从860年代末开始袭击英格兰：例如，他们在870年代在托克西（Lincs）和阿尔德瓦克（Yorks）的营地。除了将它们用于贸易之外，现在有证据表明维京人“模仿”了stycas， a)他们不识字的铭文，反映了其他早期维京人在英国创造的货币；b)不同的诺森伯兰国王使用的一对模具来生产“不规则”的硬币。这一新证据具有深远的意义，因为styca长期以来为9世纪的英格兰北部提供了重要的年代证据，但我们似乎过早地确定了关键地点的年代。填补9世纪考古记录的空白对于理解这段巨大变革时期至关重要，维京人袭击并征服了诺森伯兰王国，改变了它的经济。通过研究来自维京人背景的诺森伯兰官方发行的新证据，我们可以追踪到stycas在铸造后持续流通了多长时间；例如，托尔克西集中营（根据文献资料，日期为873年）包含840年代铸造的stycas。我还将通过区分官方版和维京版（带有文盲的铭文和不规则的死亡链接），试图确定stycas是多久铸造的，由谁铸造的。这也将揭示维京人制造仿制品的规模，对了解他们的经济活动具有重要意义。我还将研究维京人使用铜合金作为交换媒介的其他证据，包括在冬令营和仓库中发现的铜合金锭和黑金属，以及在便携式古物计划数据库中发现的金属检测结果。总之，这将与传统上强调维京白银经济形成重要对比，为贱金属经济的规模提供新的视角。已故的Liz Pirie于1996年出版的styca目录是用于铸造这种创新硬币的许多模具的主要资源，但现在由于其历史背景而过时，早在怀疑维京人可能对其发行和生产产生影响之前就已经写好了。我将首先对1996年以来出现的styca进行分类，主要是通过金属探测的出现：PAS记录了来自英格兰各地的700多个标本。在维京人营地也有新记录的集合（托克西有205个，阿尔瓦克有90个），在班堡（125个）和惠特比（130个；发现于20世纪30年代，但直到最近才被伍兹编目）。由YMT策划的集合包括圣伦纳德广场（York）和博尔顿珀西（Yorks）的收藏，包括3700个styca。这些传统上可以追溯到860年代，但包含迄今为止未被认识到的模仿，因此似乎是相当晚的时间，需要重新检查。这两个主要的藏品已经被彻底编目，它们的模具也匹配，这意味着它们为与其他组合进行比较提供了基础。我还将研究斯堪的纳维亚博物馆中少量的styca藏品，这些藏品的发现背景将为维京人使用styca的持续时间和性质提供证据。总而言之，这位博士将对一种分析潜力尚未得到充分认识的铸币进行重新评估，并为该领域提供急需的标准参考工作更新。”

"This PhD will shed new light on copper-alloy stycas, the most common early medieval English coins. They were minted in the 9th-century kingdom of Northumbria, replacing its silver coinage, and it is usually argued that stycas ceased being minted and used by 867, as repeated Viking attacks and civil war undermined Northumbrian royal authority. When minting resumed in Northumbria c.900 it was by Viking kings in York using silver. However, there is growing evidence to suggest stycas continued to be used, and perhaps even minted, into the late 9th century (Woods 2019). Hundreds have recently turned up in tightly-dated, metal-detected assemblages linked to the Viking 'Great Army' that raided England from the late 860s: e.g. their camps of the 870s at Torksey (Lincs) and Aldwark (Yorks). As well as using them for trade, there is now evidence the Vikings 'imitated' stycas, suggested by a) their illiterate inscriptions, mirroring other early Viking coinages in Britain; and b) the pairing of dies used by different Northumbrian kings to produce 'irregular' looking coins. This new evidence has profound implications, as stycas have long provided essential dating evidence for 9th-century northern England, but we appear to have been dating key sites far too early. Filling a perceived gap in the 9th-century archaeological record is crucial to understanding a period of immense change, as Vikings raided and conquered the Northumbrian kingdom, transforming its economy.By examining the new evidence for official Northumbrian issues from clearly Viking contexts we can trace how long stycas continued to circulate after they were minted; e.g. the Torksey camp (dated by documentary sources to 873) contains stycas minted in the 840s. I will also seek to establish how long, and by whom, stycas were minted, by distinguishing official issues from Viking copies (with their illiterate inscriptions and irregular die linking). This will also reveal the scale on which the Vikings minted imitations, with major implications for understanding their economic activities. I will also examine other evidence for use of copper alloy as a medium of exchange by the Vikings, through finds of cu-alloy ingots and hack metal on the winter camps and in hoards, and metal-detected finds on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. Together this will provide an important contrast to traditional emphasis on the Viking silver economy, enabling new perspectives on the scale of the base-metal economy.The late Liz Pirie's 1996 published styca catalogue is the major resource for the many dies used to mint this innovative coinage, but is now out of date concerning their historical context, being written long before any possible Viking influence on their distribution and production was suspected. I will begin by cataloguing stycas that have emerged since 1996, largely via the advent of metal-detecting: the PAS records over 700 further specimens from across England. There are also newly recorded assemblages at Viking camps (205 from Torksey; 90 from Aldwark) and hoards at Bamburgh (125) and Whitby (130; found in the 1930s but only recently catalogued by Woods). Assemblages curated by YMT include the St Leonard's Place (York) and Bolton Percy (Yorks) hoards, comprising 3700 stycas. These have been traditionally dated to the 860s, but contain hitherto unrecognised imitations and so appear to be of rather later date, and in need of fresh examination. These two major hoards have been thoroughly catalogued and their dies matched, meaning that they provide a basis for comparison to other assemblages. I will also examine the small number of styca collections in Scandinavian museums, whose find contexts will add to the evidence for the duration, and nature, of use of stycas by the vikings. In sum, this PhD will present a reappraisal of a coinage whose analytical potential has not been fully appreciated, and provide a much-needed update on the standard reference work for the field."