Nikolai A. Makarov, Pëtr G. Gaidukov, Andrei A. Gomzin
Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow(nmakarov10@yandex.ru, russianchange@yandex.ru, gomzin_a@mail.ru)
The paper deals with over 100 items of oriental, western European and Byzantine coins of the 9th–11th centuries excavated in the central part of the Suzdal land, the so-called Suzdal Opolye, during the last 15 years’ fieldwork. Dirhams of the 10th century prevail in the collection. The bulk of coins and weights was encountered not in Suzdal proper but at ‘big settlements’, i.e. large habitation sites of the 10th–11th centuries and cemeteries related to them. It seems likely that such a distribution of finds reflects a special role of big settlements in the economy of North-Eastern Rus.
Keywords: medieval settlements, Rus, Suzdal Opolye, monetary circulation, dirhams, denarii, miliarisii, weights, coin functions.
