Recycled Byzantine Silver Drove 7th-Century Trade

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—According to a report in Cosmos Magazine, lead isotope analysis of coins minted in what are now England, the Netherlands, and parts of France between A.D. 660 and 750 indicates that they were made from recycled Byzantine silver. The identification suggests that trade between northwestern Europe and the Byzantine Empire began earlier than previously thought. “Elites in England and Francia were almost certainly sitting on this silver already,” said Rory Naismit