Silver, Status and Society - the transition from Late Roman to Early Medieval Europe

在公元第一个千年的欧洲，权力和威望主要通过两种便携式材料来表达：银和金。这些贵金属为欧洲中世纪早期王国的出现提供了原材料，用于制造、竞争和反映社会内部和社会之间的地位。虽然欧洲部分地区青睐黄金，但在苏格兰，白银是600多年来最重要的贵金属(公元400-1000年)。白银是通过罗马传入苏格兰的(通过补贴、军饷、外交和掠夺)，并迅速成为在边疆以外的土地上表达权力和威望的重要手段，尽管它背负着帝国的“包袱”。最近在苏格兰发现了罗马晚期和中世纪早期的银器，并对现有的银器进行了重新评估，这突显了与欧洲其他地方从事类似材料研究的人建立联系的必要性。白银、地位和社会网络将提供一个机会，最大限度地利用现有的两个关于白银的国家研究计划建立的势头，在欧洲历史上的这一关键时期，首次对这种强大而有价值的材料进行国际和跨学科的比较研究。白银为了解罗马帝国解体和欧洲中世纪早期王国出现所造成的政治真空的反应提供了关键的证据来源，但研究一直受到国家边界和学术学科之间的分歧的限制。将学者、博物馆专业人士、早期职业研究人员和博士生聚集在一起，将在那些参与发现、管理、研究和公开展示北欧早期中世纪银器的人之间建立持久的跨学科联系。该网络将通过提供对可比材料、替代方法和解释性模型的见解，将英国的一个新兴研究领域置于国际背景下。这将提供一个平台，以比较和对比在罗马帝国崩溃后对白银的供应、流通和使用的不同战略，并探索这种贵金属在欧洲中世纪早期王国出现中的作用。白银、地位和社会网络的调查结果将通过在爱丁堡举行的开放日会议以及格伦莫兰吉早期中世纪苏格兰研究项目(设在苏格兰国家博物馆www.nms.ac.uk/early中世纪)现有的公共方案活动向公众传播，包括在爱丁堡举办一次特别展览，并于2017年出版一本畅销书。学术传播将通过两个研讨会进行，一个在英国，一个在丹麦，并出版一卷从这些研讨会上摘录的论文。

Power and prestige in Europe during the first millennium AD is predominately expressed in two portable materials: silver and gold. These precious metals underpinned the emergence of early medieval kingdoms in Europe by providing the raw materials for prestige objects that were used to create, contest and reflect status within and between societies. While parts of Europe favoured gold, in Scotland silver was the most important precious metal for over 600 years (AD400-1000). Silver had been introduced to Scotland by Rome (via subsidies, military pay, diplomacy and loot) and rapidly became a vital means of expressing power and prestige in the lands beyond the frontier, albeit one that carried Imperial 'baggage'. Recent discoveries of Late Roman and Early Medieval silver hoards in Scotland, and re-evaluation of existing hoards, has highlighted the need to connect with those working on comparable material elsewhere in Europe. The network Silver, Status and Society will provide an opportunity to maximise the momentum building from two existing programmes of national research on silver to develop, for the first time, a comparative international and cross-disciplinary study of this powerful and valuable material, during this pivotal period in Europe's history. Silver provides a key source of evidence for understanding reactions to the political vacuum caused by the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the emergence of the early medieval kingdoms of Europe, but research has been inhibited by national boundaries and divides between academic disciplines. Bringing together academics, museum professionals, early career researchers and doctoral students, will create lasting cross-disciplinary connections between those involved in the discovery, curation, research and public presentation of early medieval silver from across northern Europe. The network will place an emerging field of study in the UK into an international context by providing insights into comparable material, alternative methodologies, and interpretative models. This will provide a platform from which to compare and contrast different strategies towards the supply, circulation and use of silver following the collapse of the Roman Empire and to explore the role of this precious metal in the emergence of the early medieval kingdoms of Europe. The findings of the Silver, Status and Society network will be disseminated publically through an open day conference in Edinburgh, and via the existing public programmes activity of the Glenmorangie Research Project on Early Medieval Scotland (based at National Museums Scotland www.nms.ac.uk/earlymedieval), including a special exhibition in Edinburgh and publication of a popular book in 2017. Academic dissemination will be through two symposia, one in the UK and one in Denmark, and the publication of a volume of papers drawn from them.