WIVA Seminar series April 28, 2026

Abbasid Coins in Viking Worlds: Evidence of
Overlapping Networks

Omran Garazhian, Archaeologist, Prehistoric Field Archaeology and Anthropological Archaeology. Studying the connections of
the Viking Age to Central Asia and Southern Russia.

This presentation adopts a critical perspective on models of state
formation that privilege sedentary settlements and urban centres. It
argues that such approaches have systematically underestimated
the pivotal role of mobile populations—an imbalance partly rooted
in Eurocentric traditions within Near Eastern studies.

The talk first examines the role of mobile populations in the
governance and political organization of the Abbasid Empire. It then
turns to Abbasid coins found in Viking Age contexts as material
evidence of overlapping networks.

Rather than interpreting these coins solely as indicators of direct
exchange or connectivity, I suggest that shifts in their functions,
together with the loss and transformation of their original layers of
meaning, should be understood as signs of network overlap. In this
sense, material recontextualization reflects interaction without
necessarily implying stable or continuous connections.

Finally, the presentation seeks to bridge the spatial distance
between Abbasid urban centres in Khorasan and their northern
circulation zones, while also addressing the limitations posed by the
lack of precise chronological resolution in numismatic evidence. In
doing so, it aims to provide a conceptual and methodological basis
for further research on long-distance interactions between mobile
and sedentary populations.

Date: 28th of April, 2026

Time: 10:15–12:00

Location: Uppsala Eng/2-2033

For Zoom link, email: rahaf.abu_shaer@arkeologi.uu.se