Stridsyxor och sjöfågel: norrländska nätverk med Östeuropa under vikingatid och tidig medeltid

Interaction between the nomadic Saami and Germanic- speaking farmers in the northern part of Sweden is often seen as an intra-Scandinavian south-north phenomenon. In this paper, some artefacts from regions of the Baltic-Finnic Ves’ and mixed populations of Kievan Rus’ found in Norr- land are brought into the discussion. The first artefacts observed are two war axes of a suggested Kievan Rus’ origin. Added to these are imports found among the Saami, such as Kievan Rus’ jewellery as well as Baltic Finnic waterfowl- and lunula-pendants. The different types of artefacts had varied social and cultural meaning, addressing separate groups in the area. All artefacts imply a south-eastern route in a network, probably managed by Baltic Finns and Saami on inland trails running from the Onega-Ladoga water systems, through inland Finland, leading to northern Sweden. The axes imply that sedentary farmers and Finnic-speaking Kvens and Ves’ also played a part in the eastern network, not only the Saami. Information gained from the interregional analysis is set in a wider frame of changing political and economic relations in north eastern Fennoscandia. Socioeconomic analogies are sought among seventeenth-century fur-trapping Huron and French actors.