Pages: 301-310

Publication of the entire collection of leather objects from excavations of the oldest horizons of Zemlyanoye Gorodishche in Staraya Ladoga enables us to compare this category of artefacts of material culture at the two early urban centres — Hedeby and Ladoga. The quantitative and qualitative composition of the collection of leather finds from Ladoga indicates a rather weak occupation of this settlement which was intensified due to the temporary residence of merchants and traders here. The footwear sets and other leather products from Ladoga and Hedeby show their complete correspondence in terms of constructions and fashions. This fact suggests personal contacts between residents of these settlements, as well as a fairly ‘narrow’ chronological span of these contacts — the second half of the 9th century to the early 10th century.
The sewing industry of leather-workers in the Ladoga settlement of the 8th — first half of the 10th century was limited primarily to repair and re-sewing of worn and torn goods, firstly footwear

Keywords: Ladoga, Hedeby, Early Middle Ages, leather objects, craft

Information about author:

Alexandr Kurbatov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]