Greater than a century after its discovery in a 9th century lady’s grave, an engraved ring has found out proof of shut contacts among Viking Age Scandinavians and the Islamic global.
Excavators of a Viking buying and selling heart in Sweden referred to as Birka recovered the silver ring within the overdue 1800s. Till now, it used to be concept that it featured a violet amethyst engraved with Arabic-taking a look characters. However nearer inspection with a scanning electron microscope found out that the presumed amethyst is coloured glass (an unique subject material on the time), say biophysicist Sebastian Wärmländer of Stockholm School and his colleagues.
An inscription at the glass inset reads both “for Allah” or “to Allah” in an historic Arabic script, the researchers record February 23 in Scanning.
Scandinavians traded for fancy glass items from Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 3,four hundred years in the past (SN: 1/24/15, p. 8). Therefore, seagoing Scandinavians may have got glass pieces from Islamic investors in the similar a part of the sector greater than 2,000 years later moderately than looking forward to such fascinating items to transport north thru industry networks.
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