The 1958 dirham hoard from Tartu in Estonia / Thomas S. Noonan

8/10/2019 The 1958 dirham hoard from Tartu in Estonia / Thomas S. Noonan

1/25

THE

1958

F R O M .

T A R T U

IN E STON IA

T H O M S S . N O O N N

In 1958 a hoard of 41 dirhams was found in the

city

of Tartu

(Dorpat,

lur ev) in eastern Estonia. More detailed Informa tion abo u t the cir-

cumstances of the find is not available. The hoard was identified by

Aleksei Andreevich

Bykov,

former

head

of the numismatic

section

of

the

Hermitage,

and is

mnv preserved

in the

Tartu City Museum

Numis-

Inuentory

Book, vol. 5, TM 143,

N38, 1-41).

1

Only

two

brief

to the Tartu hoard have so far been published. The first

in E.

Tnisson s 1962 study

of

Estonian coin

and

treasure

of the ninth through thirteenth centuries. 2 Tnisson s descrip-

tion noted

only that

the hoard contained 41Arabic coins of the

eighth

through tenth centuries. The same

Information

was repeated in V. V.

Kropotkin s

enumeration

of

some

of the

recent

Kfic

coin

finds

from

the

Soviet Union. 8 Even this m inimal information about

the

hoard

was

Duringthecourseof a1975sabbaticalresearch tripto

obtain

further

information

on dirham hoards from theSoviet Union, I

was

able to visit T artu where the

officials

of the city museum granted meaccess to the unpublished account of the hoard con-

tained In their rccords. I should like to tnke this

opportunity

to thank th e C i t y

M useum of Tartu for its kindness and to express my apprecintlon to U ie f f i c e of

International Programs and the Putnam Dana

M cM il lan

Professorship Award

C om-

mittee, both

of the University of

M innesota,

for their generous financial support

of

my

sabbatical research

in the

Soviet Union.

I

should also like

to

thank M ichael

Bates of the American Numismatic Society for his critical evaluation of the

manu-

script and

various

suggestions for its improvement.

E. Tdnisson, Eesti aardeleiud

9.-13.

sajandist, Muistsed Kalmed

Ja

Aarded:

Arheoloogiline

Kogmik 2

ed. H.

M oora (Tallinn, 1962),

p.

199,

no. 80;

tables,

pp.244-45.

n V. V.Kropotkin,

Novye

nakhodki

sasanidskikh

i

kuficheskikh

monetv Vostoch-

noS

Evrope,

N 9

(1971),

p. 95, no.

204.

135


2/25

6


3/25

D I R H A M

H O A R D F R O M T A R T U 137

completely

accurate. The

Tartu hoard

is composed exclusively

tenth-century dirhams.

A ccording to

Bykov,

th e

Tartu hoard consisted

of the following

coins:

1.

SMNID

ISM IL B.

A ^ J M A D

1-2. al-Shsh,

286

H./.D. 899-900

3.

al-Shsh, 288/900-1

4. al-Shsh,

293/905-6

5.

al-Shsh, 294/906-7

A^MAD

B. ISM lL

6.

al-Shsh, 295/907-8,

7 .

al-Shsh, 299/911-12

NAR B. A^MAD

8.

al-Shsh, 308/920-21

9. al-Shsh, 316/928-29

318/930-31

al-Shsh,

320/932-33

3.

al-Shsh,

322/933-34

4.

al-Shsh, 323/934-35

5.

al-Shsh, 324(?)/935-36

6.

al-Shsh, 325/936-37

7.

al-Shsh, 331/942-43

8.

al-Shsh, 33(l)/942-43

9. Samar q and

317/929-30

0. Samarqand, 326/937-38

1 .

No mint, 309/921-22

NIJB. NAR

2. al-Shsh, 366/976-77*

3.

Samarqand, 340/951-52

4. Bukhr,

337/948-49

4 The

date should probably

be 336/947-48. Nh I b.

Nasr reigned

331-43. Nh

I

b.

M a ns rreigned from

365 to

387,

but his

father

was

M a ns r

not

Nasr.


4/25

138

T H O M A S

S .

N O O N A N

P

A B D A L - M A L I K

B .

25-26.

Samarqand, 343/954-55

MANUR

B. NH

27-28.

al-Shsh,

355/965-66

29.

al-Shsh,

357(?)/967-68

30. al-Shsh, 358/968-69

31-32.

al-Shsh, 359/969-70

33. al-Shsh, 366/976-775*

34.

Bukhr, 352/963-64

35. Rasht, 361/971-72

36. Nomint,

351/962-63

2. MUSFIRID OR SALLRID

I S M lL

A N D W A H S D N

37.

Barda'a, 3xx(?)6

3. 'ABBSID

AL-MUQTADIR

38.

Madinatal-Salm,

311/923-24

39.

al-Basra, (3)32/943-44

According to n m n y rcfcrencc works, M a n s r I dlcd in

365

and was succcc

b y h f s son

N f il i

II Ih n sa m cycar.

Ilowcvcr, d i r h a m s

of

M a n s O r

I f rom

al-Sh

wlth

the

ycar

30(5

arc rcporlcd from

o t h c r

K f i c hoards o f the

soulheastcrn Bn

and Russia. See, for example, R. R. Vasmer,

Ein im

D or fe Staryi Dedin

in

We

russland Gemachter Fund Kufischer

Mnzen

(Stockholm,

1929),

p. 17,nos.

162

W . Anderson, Der

M n z f u n d

von

Vaabina,

Sitzungsberichte

de r

Gelehrten

nischen Gesellschaftlpetatud Eesti Settsi Aasiaraamat

l (Tartu/Dorpat,

19

publ.1938),p. 52,nos. 276, 279.

6

Although listed

withthe

Smnid coins,

this

dirham most likely belongs

to

M usfirid Wahsdn

w ho ru l e d

from 330 to 355 and had ason,

Ism'il,

who. d

around

35 0

Encyclopaedia

o f

Islam

2nd

ed., s.v.

M usfir ids).


5/25

DlRHAM HOARD

FROM TARTU

139

4.

BUWAYHID

MU IZZ AL-DAWLA AND *IMD AL-DAWLA

Mint

illegible, (3)37/948-49

5. VOLGA BULGARS

MIK lL

B. JA FAR

.Madinat Bulghr, date illegible.

The

dynastic

distribution of the 41

dirhams

is

given

inTable l below.

s

we can

see,

the.hoard

was overwhelmingly

composed

of

Smnid

and the other foui dynasties

had

only

minimal representation.

TABLE l

Dynastic

Distribution of Dirhams in the Tartu Hoard

Dynasty Number of oins Percentageo f Hoard

Smnid

36

87.8

Abbsid 2 4.9

Musfirid l 2.4

Buwayhid l 2.4

Volga Bulgars

l 2.4

41

99.9

Theregional distribu tion

of the

mints

is

perha ps even more

significant

the dynaslic breakdown. Of

h e

38

d i rhamswhose

m i n t can be

34 89.5

percent)

are from mints located in

Transoxania-

Asia (al-Shsh,

26;

Samarqand,

5;

Bukhr,

2;

Rasht,

1).

Two

5.3

percent)

come

from

Irq Madinat

al-Salm and

al-Basra)

there is one

coin 2.6 percent)

from

Transcaucasia (Barda a)

and

e 2.6

percent)

from the m iddle Volga Madinat Bu lghr). In short,

struck in

Smnid mints formed

the

predominant

in the

Tartu

hoard.


6/25

140 T H O M S S.

N O O N N

The

oldest coin

in the

hoard

was a

Smnid dirham

of Ism l

Ahm ad struck in al-Shsh in 286/899-900. The

most

recent coin

a S mnid dirhamofM ansr b. Nh struck in al-Shsh in 366/976

The time span between the oldest and newest coins was thus 77ye

Table

2 gives a

breakdown

of the 39 dateable dirhams by decade.

figures show

that

the coins in the Tartu hoard are fairly evenly

tributed over

eight

decades. The hoard is prim arily composed

nei

of dirhams which

had

been

in

circulation

for a

long period befor

burial nor of recently-minted dirhams.

TABLE

2

Chronological

Distribution of Dirhams in the Tartu Hoard

Decade

890/91-899/900

900/1-909/10

910/11-919/20

920/21-929/30

930/31-939/40

940/41-949/50

950/51-959/60

960/61-969/70

970/71-979/80

Number of oins

2

4

1

5

8

6

3

8

2

Percentage of Hoard

5.1

10.3

2.6

12.8

20.5

15.4

7.7

20.5

5.1

39

100.0

The predominance of Smnid dirhams compels us to examine

distribution

by

ruler

in greater detail. The basic quan titative

can be

fond

in the

third

and

fourth

columnsof Table 3. The la

number of Smniddirhams about 3/8 was struck in the longreig

Nasr

b.

Alimad.

The

next largest group slightly over 1/4 com es

the reign of Mansr b. Nh during whose lifetimethe hoard was

sumably assembled. There are very few coinsfrom the relatively

s

reigns of A h m ad b. Ismail and f

A bd

al-Malik b. N h . In brief

quantitative breakdown by reign does not indicate any notewo

patterns.


7/25

TABLE 3

Distribution ofSmnid Coins in the Tartu Hoard by Ru

u r

and Years of Reign

Total Years Percentage of Total

Ni nber

of

Per

in

eign Span

(279-366) Coins

All S

Ism'il

b.

Ahmad

279-95

A h m a d

b.

Ism'il, 295-301

Nasr b. Ahmad 301-31

Nh

b.

Nasr,331-43

'Abd

al-Malik b. Nh,

343-50

Mansr

b.

Nh,

350-65

16

6

30

12

7

16

18.4

6.9

34.5

13.8

8.0

18.4

5

2

14

3

2

10

100.0

a

Mansr apparentlydiedin 365(see note5) but coinsdated366appear withhisname

a16-yearspanis usedfor the statistical purposes ofthis table.


8/25

142 T H O M A S S .

N O O N N

Columns one two,and

five

of Table 3 were used to determine

average number

of

Smnid coins

in the

hoard

per

year

for

each r

If th e

same numbcr

of coins was

issued each ycar

and

cach coin c

lated for

about

th e

same time,

w e would

expect

to find

fewer

per year

from

earlier reigns and

more

coins per year

from later

re

The

Tartu

hoard does not

conform

to this model. The largest nu

of

coins per year comes from

the

most recent

reign,

s

would be expe

but the coins peryear

f rom.

th e reigns of N h i and cA bd al-Malik

fewer than those

from the

much earlier reigns

of

Ism Il

and

Ahm

O fall the reigns beforethat of

Mansr,

Nasr s shows the greatest nu

of

coins per

year.

Rather

than

the increase in number of coins

year

we

would anticipate with each successive reign,

we

encount

decline under

Nh and

Abd al-Malik.

Their

reigns

are thus

un

represented

in the hoard while that of Nasr is

overrepresented.

T

figures may

reflect

lower

production

in

some

or all

Smnid m

during

the reigns of Nh and cAbd al-Malik. There appears to

been increased production in some or all Smnid mints under N

The

information

on

coins

per

year

is

therefore more revealing

the

basic data

on the

number

of

coins from

the

reign

of

each r

T A B L E

4

Distribution of Dirhams in the Tartu Hoard by Mint

n

al-Shsh

Samarqand

Unknown

Bukhr

Rasht

Barda

c

a

Madinat

al-Salm

al-Basra

M a di na tBulghr

Number

Percenlage of

oard

26

5

3

2

1

1

1

1

63.4

12.2

7.3

4.9

2.4

2.4

2.4

2.4

2.4

41

99.8


9/25

DlRHAM

HOARD FROM TARTU

43

The

mint distribution

of the 41

dirhams given

in

Table

4

presents

interesting

phenomenon. Thevastm ajority of the coins in the hoa rd,

w as

slruck

in

al-Shsh.

The

onlyo ther m intwi th

a

significant

of the Tartu dirhams was Samarqand. Furthermore, Table

that

the

al-Shsh

dirhams

are

well

represented

among

e coins from most of the Smnid rulers, and composed 72.2 percent

all

Smnid

dirhams in the hoard. In this connection, it is striking

the percentages for the two reigns with the largest concentrations

are

78.6 percen t Nasr

b.

Ahmad)

and

70.0 percen t M ansr

Nh). Aside from the period

331-50

H.,w hich is poorly represented

the hoard, al-Shsh dirhams predominate among both older and

Smnid dirhams.

TABLE 5

Distribution

of

al-Shsh

Dirhams

in the

Tartu H oard

by

Ruler

Percentage

ul r

ll b. Ahmad

b.

Ism il

b. Ahmad

b. Nasr

bd

al-Malik b. f c

b.

Nfr

Total

Dirhams

5

2

14

3

2

10

Number al~Shsh

5

2

11

1

0

7

al Shsh

100.0

100.0

78.6

33.3

0.0

70.0

The weak representation of al-Shsh dirhams from 331-50 H. is

when

we

examine

the

number

of

al-Shsh dirhams

per

year

each reign Table

6). It is

interesting

to

note

that the

precipitous

in the

number

of

al-Shsh dirhams

per

year

and the marked

rise

the

number

of

dirhams

per

year

from

other mints comes

during the

of Nh and

Abd al-Malik,

a

period whose

coins, s we

have

are noticeably

imderrepresented

in the hoard

s

a whole. These

raise the possibility that, while the overall production of S-

mints m ay have declined in the period

331-50

H., the decline

relatively

more severe in al-Shsh than in other Smnid mints.


10/25

14 4

T H O M A S

S .

N O O N N

T A B L E 6

Number

of

Smnid Dirhams

Per

Year from

Mints

in the Tartu Hoard Given by Reigns

ul r

al Shsh CoinslYear

Olher

Mints Coinsl

Ism Il

b.

Ahmad

A ljma d b. Ism ll

Nasr b.

Ah.mad

Nh. b. Nasr

Abdal-Malik b. Nb.

M a ns r b . Nh.

.31

.33

.37

.08

.00

.44

.00

.00

.10

.17

.29

.19

In

summary,

the

Tartu

hoard

was composed

overwhelmmgl

Smnid

dirhams

from

Transoxania which had been struck ove

prior eight decades. There was no notable concentration of

either

new or

very old dirhams. Among

th e

Smnid dirhams,

those

fro

Shsh were pr edom ina nt. Pcrhaps

th e

most striking

featurc of the

h

was the disproportionate number of dirhams per year from

se

Smnid reigns

and the sharp

fluctuation

in the

number

of al-S

dirhams per year for various reigns. These variations can

per

best

be

explained

by

changes

in the

production

of the

Smnid

m

during

the

time under consideration.

A swe have seen, Central Asian dirhams composed

almost

90pe

of the coins in the Tartu hoard. It

might

appear from these fi

thatthehoard s awhole originated in Transoxania. Such a suppos

is

strengthened

whenweconsider

that

the most recent coins (nos

35) are all

Smnid dirhams from Central Asia. Under normal condit

local coins would presumably occupy

a

ma jor place among

the

recent dirhams

in a

hoard.

T he few

coins

from

Transcaucasia

and

found in the Tartu hoard can be

attributed

to the circulation of

dirhams

from

the

more westerly provinces

of

Islam within Transoxa

At the

saine

time, we must aeknowkdge that the presence of a di

issued

by the Bulgar state along the middle Volga River raises ce

Problems concerning

the

Central Asian origins

of the

hoard.

exclude s

unlikely the

possibility

that the

Volga Bulgar dirham

obtained in Transoxania, it appears

that

this dirham wasadded to

Tartu

hoard

somewhere

in eastern Europe. Oneobvious explana


11/25

DlRHAM

H O A R D

FROM

TARTU 45

that the

Tartu

hoard was

brought

from

Central Asia

to

Estonia

via

e

Volga Bulgar

lands where a local dirham

might easily have been

Alternatively,the

hoard

could

h ave been

formed in the

Volga

lands,

at someother

interm ediary point ,

or in

Es tonia. Tenth-

dirham

hoards

from

Russia

and

adioining

areas were ovenvhelm -

com posed

of

Smniddirhams.7

In

addit ion,

Volga Bulgar dirham s

e found in many Russian and

Estonian

hoards of thetenth Century

several separate finds

of

tenth-century VolgaBulgar

d i rham s

have

recordedinthesesameregions.8 Inbrief,the

Tartu

hoardmay well

beenform ed somewherein eastern Europefrom the dirhamsavail-

there.

The above discussion clearly demonstrates that even if the Tartu

originated

in

Central Asia,

it was not

brought

to

Estonia unaltered.

e

Tartu hoard

is not

tmique

in

this respect.

Volga

Bulgar dirhams

addedtom any tenth-century hoards

from

eastern Europe

while

the

from 970

also

saw the

appearance

of

wes tern E uro pea n deniers

Russ ian

and

Estonian

hoards .

Byzantine coins, too,

are

found

eastern European hoards

of the

tenth

and

eleventh centuries.9

short, dirhams were

not

necessarily brought

directly from

Central

to

Estonia

and then immediately

buried there.

The

mixture

of

Bulgar, western European,

and

Byzantine coins with

d irhams

Transoxania in eastern European hoardsof thetenthand eleventh

seemsto

showthat

dirhams circulated,at leastto a limited

in

eastern

Europe, and

that

it was duringthe course of such

that

coins struckindif ferent partsofEurope were m ixed with

from Central As ia. Sucha conclusion agreeswith

r written

sources, which strongly suggest that Islamic merchants

et

their

eastern

European

counterparts in

such interm ediary places

R. R. Vasmer, Ob izdanii novoi

topografii

nakhodok kuficheskikh

monet

v

Evrope, Izvesitia

Akademii

Nauk SSSR, Otdelenie

obshchestvennykh

6-7 (1933), p. 478; V. L.

lanin,

Denezhno-vesovye sistemy russkogo sred-

Domongol skii period (Moscow, 1956),

pp. 118-40.

V. V.Kropotkin, Torgovye sviaziVolzhskoiBolgariiv X v. po

numizmatiches-

dannym, revnie slaviane

i ikh sosedi,MIA

176

Moscow, 1970),

pp.146-50.

9V. V.

Kropotkin,

Klady vizantiiskikh

monet na territor SSSR Mos cow, 1962)

d

Novye

nakhodld vizantiiskikh monet na territorii SSSR, V

V

26 (1965),

166-89.


12/25


13/25

D l R H A M H O R D

F R O M T R T U

147

T A B L E

7

Four Estonian

CoinHoardsofthePeriod

966/67-986/87

a

Location

of

Find,

of Most

Recenl

Coin Percentage

(Number

of Coins)

D i rhams

e ts a k l a , 970(51) 49.0

rtu, 976-77 (41) 100.0

980

(128)

96.9

985(335) 100.0

Percentage

W .

European

Denier s

51.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Percentage

Other

Coins

0.0

0.0

3.1

0.0

a

The

K u m n a

(Metsakla)

hoard

is

discussed

in A.

Friedenthal,

D er M n z fu n d

n Kumna, Beitrge zur Kunde

Estlands

18

(Tallinn,

1932), pp. 5-13; the firra-

hoard in V.V. Kropotkin,

Novye

n a k h o d k i

sasanidskikh,

p. 95, no. 205;

e

Essemgi(smae)hoard

in H.

Frank, D ie

baltisch-arabischen

Fundmnzen,

Gebiete der Geschichte Liv-, Est- und

Kurlands

Gesellschaft

Geschichte

und Altertumskundeder

OstseeprovinzenRusslands,

18

(Riga, 1908),

393, no. 50.

T heTartu hoard isinteresting

because chronologically

it

fol lows

after

the

Ku m na (M etsakla) hoard,

the

f irst Estonian

which contained wcstern European coins. Table 7

indicates

two qu i te different

types

of

hoards existed

in E sL o n i a

d u r i n g

th e

years

under discussion. T he Kum na (M etsakla) hoard \vith its

equal K f i c an d western European components represents the

hoards which

w ereto

characterizethis

arcafor the

next

Ce ntury

d a half . The

Tartu

hoard, however , be longs to

Ihe sccond

Lype,lhat

,those overwhelmingly or entirely composed of

eiLher Kfic

orw estern

For the two

decades

in

which

we are interested, the

group w as represented by predominantly or exclusively Kfic

T he Tartu hoard, l ike those

from

Erra-Liiva an d Essemgi

did not contain a single w estern European coin . It w as a

hoard made up primarily o f dirhams rather than a new

mixed hoard i nc l u d i ng western R u r o p c a n deniers. O n e

m i g h t

conjeclurc t h a t

the

T a r t u h o a r d

w as

buried soou a f l o r

its

d i r h a n i s

Estonia, beforethey had the chance to

c i r cu l a te

au d

become

xed w ith western European and Byzant ine coins.


14/25


15/25

D I R H A M

H O A R D F R O M T A R T U 149

T A B L E 8

Non-Western

E u r o p e a n Dynasties Represented in Estonian K f ic

Hoards of the Period 966/67-986/87

Tart

Kumna

Erra Liiva

sm e

ara

Kawast

Smnid

x x

Abbsid x x

M usfirid

x

uwayhid

x x

Volga Bulgar

x

yzantine

India

U m a y y a d

Imitations

X

X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

six hoards contained Abbsid and Buwayhid dirhams. The 1958

Tartu hoard therefore appears to be typical ofEstonian hoards of this

period in three of its dynastic components. On the other hand, Volga

Bulgar

dirhams were found in only one other hoard while none of the

other five hoards had

M usfirid

coins. The presence of these dirhams

in

the

Tartu hoard probably reflects

the

great diversity

of

coins

fo u n d ,

in

small numbers,

in

many

of the

hoards

of

this

era. Incomplete in-

formation

about most of the other Estonian hoards makes any attempt

to reach meaningful comparisons of

their

dynastic components impos-

sible.

In sum, the types of

K f ic

coins

fo u n d

in theTartu hoard do not

appear

to

diverge from those found

in

other contemporaneous Estonian

hoards.

This does

not mean

that

the

Tartu hoard

was

necessarily typical

f

th e dirhams found in Estonian hoards of the same period.

Ithad

been

my

intention

to

compare

the

Tartu hoard with

Latvian

from

the 20-year era under discussion in order to contrast the

artu dirhams with hoards

from the

region directly south

of

Estonia.

H owever, l

have been unable

to

identify

any

Latvian hoards

of

this

period.

On the other hand, there are several

dirham

hoards of this

Urne

from

the

regions

of

Russia

adjoining

Estonia,

that is, the

Novgorod

an d

Pskov

lands.

I have also included another

Kf ic

hoard from

north-

western Russia which

was

published

in

fll.

The

abundant data

on

these Russian hoards enable us to pursue our comparative analysis

the

Tartu hoard

in

depth.


16/25

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17/25

DlRH M

HO RD FROM T RTU 5

Table9containsthe

data

on thedynastic distribution inpercentages

of

six contemporaneous hoards

from

northwestern Russia. The

most

recent

coin from

cach of these

hoards

dal es to the

970s.

A ll sixRussian

hoards are composed

predom inantly

of Smnid dirhams the

numbers

ranging

from

76.1 percent to 86.9 percent. In additio n all six hoards

contain some Abbsid coins

and at least one

Hamdnid

and

Ziyrid

dirham. Imitation

Smnid coins

and Buwayhid

dirhams

are found

in five

hoards. Byzantine coins

and

dirham s issued

by the

Volga Bu lgars

and the Amirs of

Andarba were

in

three

of the six

Russian hoards.

A few coins from six other dynasties were contained in one or two of

the hoards. In general the larger the hoard the more diverse its dy-

nastic composition.

The

1956 Nerev hoard

the

largest

in our

group

contained 12

diff erent

types of coins. The Novaia

MeFnitsa

and Velikie

Luki hoards which have

less than

60 dirhams

each

contain only six

different types

of coins. Regardless of size howev er the percentage

of

Smnid coins remais fairly constant.

The percentage of Smnid dirhams

(87.8)

in the

Tartu

hoard is

comparableto that in the

northwest Russian hoards;

it is

slightly higher

than

that found in f ive of the

Russian hoards

but

less than

one

percent

more

than the

figure from

the 1953 Nerev hoard . It is

therefore hard

to

point

to any

significant

difference

between

the

Tartu

and

Russiau

hoards

with

respect

to

their overwhe.hning

Sfimfinid composilion.

O n

the

other

hand there is

some

difference in

their percentages

of

non-S5mnid

dirhams.

TheTartu

hoard

did not

contain

the

Ham dnid

or

Ziyrid coins

found

in all the Russian hoa rds or the Imitation dir-

hams

found in

five

of the

Russian hoards. Volga Bulgar dirhams which

are

in the

Tartu hoard

are

found

in

only half

th e

Russian hoards

while

none of the Russian hoards contains a Musfirid d i rham which was

ound

in the

Tartu hoard.

In the

area

of

non-Smnid coins

the

chief

and

perhaps, sole similarity between the Tartu and Russian hoards

lies in

their

small percentages of Abbsid and Buwayhid issues.

It is

difficult

to determine if the differences in percentages of non-

Smnid coins in the Tartu and northwest Russian hoards have any

significance.

As we

have seen

the number of

dynasties

represented in

hoard depends to a largeextent, on its size. The absenceofv rious

in the

Tartu

hoard canthus be linked to the fact

that

it is

smaller

than any of the

northwest

Russian

hoards. Furthermore,

the


18/25

152 T H O M S S.

N O O N N

fragmentary data on contemporaneous Estonian hoards

prevents

a

definitive conclusion

about which non-Smnid dynasties were

rep

scntcd in Estonian

hoards

of this cra. Even more importnnt, it se

safe to assumethat

most

ofthe

non-Smfmid

dirhamswere broug ht

i

eastern Europe

from

Central Asia along

with

Samnid dirhams. T

presenceorabseneeofvarious non-Sm nid dirham s

in

eastern Europ

hoards of

this

time would, therefore, depend

greatly

on the vagaries

monetary cireulation in Central

Asia.

It can therefore beargued

th

the

small non-Smnid component

of the

northwest Russian

and

Ta

hoards reflects, more

than anything

eise the non-Smnid dirha

available in Transoxania at the timethese

hoards

were being

form

The

presence

of one or a few

non-Smnid dirhams

in one

easte

European hoard and

their

absenee in

another may

be the

result

chance. Finally I am not aware of any reason why Hamdnid

Ziyrid dirhams, which were accepted

in

northwest Russia, should

deliberately excluded from Estonia.

All

this discussion suggests th

we

shouldnot

attach great

imp ortanceto the

differences

in the dynas

distributionof the non-Smnid dirhams between the

Tartu

and nor

west Russian

hoards.

TABLE

10

Regional Distribution of S ix

Dirham

Hoards

from

Northwest Russi

(Expressed

in

Percentages)

Central Asia Near

East

Elsewhe

1953 Nerev

Novaia Mel'nitsa

1956 Nerev

Velikie Luki

Erilovo

Staryi Dedin

87.2

81.3

85.5

79.3

81.4

76.1

8.8

17.0

10.8

20.7

15.0

6.5

4 0

1.7

3.7

0.0

3.6

16.9

Table 10shows the regional

dislribuo n

of the

coins

in the sixnort

west Russian hoards. As

could

be expected, the abundanceofS amn

dirhams has resulted in a decided Central Asian dominance. Coi

from the more western regions of Islam, here designated Near Eas


19/25

DlRHAM

H OA RD

FROM

TARTU

53

rsimplicity,comprised nly 6.5percent to20.7 percentof

the

dirhams

the

hoards.

Coins f rom other regions imitation dirhams,

Bulgaria

the.

Volga,

B y z n n t i u m , wcstern Europe vary frain 0.0 percent to

In theTartu

hoard,

89.5 percentof thedirhams originated

Transoxanian

mints,

7.9

percent

were

f rom

the

Near

East,

and 2.6

camef romelsewhere. Inother words,the

Tartu

hoard contained

higher

percentage

of Central Asian diihams than did the

Russian hoards. We may recall, in

this

respect, that the

of Smnid dirhams in the Tartu hoard was higher

than

for all six of the

northwest Russian hoards. Given

the

absence

other

contemporaneous

Estonian hoards, it is hard to say what

any, should

be

attached

to the

somewhatgreater promi-

of

Central

Asian/Smnid

dirhams

in the

Tartu

hoard.

TABLE 11

Chronological

Distribution

of the

Dirhams

f rom

FiveHoards

f rom

Northwest Russia Expressed in Percentages)

I

j


20/25

154 T H O M S S. N O O N N

The chronological distribution of the dirhams

from five

northw

Russian

hoards is shown in

Table

11. The most

interesting conclus

to bc

drawn

from U ns

table concerns

th e

similarities

and differen

within the

Russian hoards.

All

contain

a

small percentage

of co

struck before

890; in

four

of the hoards

this

is less

than

one perc

Similarly, none of the hoards contain a significant percentage ofco

issued before

920

and,

in four of the fivecases,

before 930.

At thesa

time, the three somewhat earlier hoards seem to have a chronolog

distribution

pattern

distinct

from that of the two slightly

laterhoar

In each of the first threehoards, there is a significant concentration

dirhams of the 960s which ranges from 1/3 to over 2/5 of the en

hoard.

The

issues from

the twolater

hoards

are

distributed much

m

evenly

over

the

period

from

the

930s

to the

970s.

The

Tartu

hoard

d

not fit either of these general patterns and also seemsnot to have

same overall chronological distribution sthe Russian hoards. First

contains none

of the

pre-890 dirhams present

in

small quantities

all the R ussian hoards. S econd,a significantly

greater

percentage o

twice) of the Tartu hoard

than

is true for the Russian hoards

da

from

the 890s and 900s; the percentage

from

the 920s and 930s in

Tartu hoard isalsogreater. Inshort, the Tartu hoard containsa sig

ficantly

larger percentage

of

earlier coins

than

do the

five

R ussian

hoar

Between 1/2 and 5 /8 of the dirham s in the northw est R ussian

hoa

were minted after 949/50,

while

only 1/3 of theTartucoins weremin

during

thecomparable period.

Finally,

the

Tartu

hoardlacksthe

nota

concentration

of

coins from

the

960s

found in the

first three Russ

hoards,and itsdirhams werenot s evenly distributed overthe deca

from the 930s

s

was true for the

latter

two hoards.

The considerable differences in chronological distribution

betwe

the

Tartu

and Russian hoards are also apparent when we

compare

distribu tion of the Smnid dirham s in each. Table 1 2 shows t

distribution fo r three of the northwest Russian hoards. A sma

perccntage of the Smnid dirhams in the Russian hoards

comes f

th e

reigns

of

Ismail

b. Ahmad, Alimad b. Isml l, and

Nasr

b.

Aljm

and a greater percentage from the reigns ofNl.i b. Nasr,

Abd

al-Ma

b. Nh,, and Mansr b.

Nfc.

We

can

summarize

this

discussion

by

emphasizing

the

importa

chronological

differences between the

Tartu

and Russian hoards. F


21/25

D I R H A M

H O A R D

F R O M

T A R T U

155

T A B L E 12

D istribution of

Smanid

D irhams by R u l e r in Three

Iloards

from No rthwest R ussia (E xpressed

in Percentages)

1953

Nereu

1 9 5 6 N e r ev

Staryi

Dedin

203 ) 3 5 5 ) 1 5 3 )

b.

A h m a d

or A h m a d

b. Ismail

b.

A h m a d

N h

h b.

NasrJ

h

or

Abd

al-M alik

d

al-M alik

b. Nh- ^

d al-M alik or M ansr

ansr

b.

Nh

h b. M ansr

2.0

0.5

1.5

23.6

0.0

16.2

1.5

15.3

1.0

38.4

0.0

0.6

0.3

1.4

21.1

5.1

20.3

0.8

10.7

0.0

39.7

0.0

7.2

0.0

3.3

31.4

0.0

15.0

0.0

9.1

0.0

32.7

1.3

unknown reason,

the Tartu

hoard contained

a

larger percentage

older coins than the R ussian h oard s and the new dirham s in the

did not follow either of the two Russian patterns for the

more

recent

dirhams.

While the

vast

predominance

Smanid dirhams created some general chronological similarities

the

Tartu

and Russian hoards,

more

detailed analysis has de-

the existenceof

distinct

diff

erences between

the

ages

of the

found

in the

Tartu hoard

and the

hoards

o f

northwestern R ussia.

T A B L E 13

Num ber of Smanid Coins/Year for Each Ruler in T hree H oards

from

Northwest R ussia

1953 Nerev 1 9 5 6 Nereu Staryi De din

Il b. Al.imad

b. Ism il

b . A h m a d

r b. Nasr

bd

al-M alik b. Nh

ansr b. Nh

0.25

0.19

1.60

2.75

4.43

4.88

0.13

0.83

2.50

6.00

5.43

8.81

0.69

0.83

1.60

1.92

2.00

3.13


22/25

156

T H O M A S

S.

N O O N A N

The chronological differences between the

northwest Russian

Tartu

hoards

also become apparent when we measure

the numb

Smnid dirhams per

year

in the

Russian hoards.

The

figures

for

such

hoards, givenbyreigns, are

found

in Table 13. In allthree

ho

the

number

of

coins

per

year

fo r

each reign steadily increases

approach

the

approximate date

of

burial.

The

only exceptions,

rather

small

onesat that,involve the data for Nh and

rA bd

al-M

in the

1956 Nerev

hoard and for Ismail an d

Ahmad

in the 1953 N

hoard. In

general,

the

Russian hoards

conform to our

ideal

mod

an

increasing number

of

coins

per

year

for

each successive

ruler.

theTartu

hoard,

it

will

be recalled, deviated

noticeably

from this

tern for the

reigns

of Nh and cAbd

al-Malik. Regardless

of the

fl

ations

in the

production

of

Smnid mints,

our

original expectatio

more

coins

per

year

for

each successive ruler seems

to be

validated

we

cannot explainth edivergent

figures

for theTartu hoardby

varia

in

mint

Output in

Transoxania.

We shall

return

to this

question

TABLE 14

Mint

Distribution

of

Dirhams

in

Three Hoards

from

Northwest

R

Expressed

in

Percentages)

1953 Nerev 1956 Nereu Stariji

1 5 4 342) 166

al-Shsh

Samarqand

Bukhr

Others

31.8

37.7

16.2

14.3

31.6

31.0

12.9

24.5

39.2

32.5

10.8

1 7 5

Table

14

gives

the

distribution

of the

dirhams

in

three Russian

ho

by

mint. Al-Shsh

and

Samarqand were clearly

the two

most-re

sented

mints. Bukhr,

the

third

most-represented

mint,

was far

be

The

mint distribution

of the

Tartu hoard

differs distinctly from

Russian pattern.

Al-Shsh dirhams are over 60percent of the

T

dirhams. Samarqand dirhamsconstitute

approximately 1/5 the num

of

al-Shsh dirhams

in the

Tartu hoard

while the

number

o f

Samarq


23/25

DiRHAM

HOARD FROM TARTU

57

al Shsh dirhams

from the

Russian hoards

is almost the

same.

e

percentage

of

Bukhr coins

in the

Tartu hoard

is

also

much less

2

to 1/3) thanthat in the Russian hoards. While al-Shsh dirhams

the

vast majority

of the

Tartu hoard issues, they constitute

a sizeable minority of the

coins

in the

Russian hoards.

of the mint distribution between theTartuand northwest

hoards thus reveals a significant difference: al-Shsh dirhams

twice s prominent in the Tartu hoard s in the Russian hoards

the relative number of Samarqand and Bukhr dirhams is con-

smallerin theTartu hoard. Itis not immediately clearwhy

mint

distribution of the di rhams in the Tartu hoard should be so

that f ound in the

Russian hoards.

e

first

part

of

this

study

sought

to

determine

the

more important

o f the

dirham hoard found

a tTartu in

1958.

Identifica-

by the comparison a n d

contrast

e Tartu hoard

with

contemporaneous di rham ho ards from Estonia

adjoining region s. This co mp ara tive an alysis could not be fully

because oflimited data on the five other known Estonian

hoards o f this pcriod. The absence o fco ntemporaneous La tvian

ruled

out the comparison ofthese hoards with the Tartu hoard .

was available on several hoards of the 970s

f ound

in the

o f

Russia which borders

on

Estonia.

The

comparison

of the

Tartu

with these Russian hoards

showed

that there were some broad

which arose from the fact that both were overwhelmingly

o f

Smnid d irhamsfrom C entral Asia. Even m o re interesting,

was the

discovery

of

several significant differences between

Tartu an d no rthwest Russian hoards. The Smnid dirhams from

Tartu

hoard were generally

older and

al-Shsh dirhams were much

prominent .

The

number

o f

Smnid coins

per

year steadily in

dur ing each reign in the Russia n ho ard s, unlike the

pattern

o f

Tartu hoard . The

Tartu

hoard therefore possessed several key

ics which distinguished it from

Kflf ic

hoardsfound in nearby

lands.

e

might

well

have expected the Tartu and Russian hoards to be

similar.

After

all,

the

d i rhams found

in

Estonian hoards

pre

camefrom the same coin stock s the d irham s buried in

north

Russia.

The

only

difference

between

the two

would seem

to be


24/25

158 T H O M A S S. N O O N A N

the route by which

they moved

north.

Some dirhams moved

fro

upper Volga region to the north by various rivers toward Nov

whilc otlicr

di rhnms

wcnt; north from thc

uppcr

Volgn vin

Lake

and the Narva

River

alongthe

Russian-Estonian

frontier. The

hoard, however, raises

the

possibility

that

the

differences betwee

tonian and northwest Russian hoards during the period966/67-98

went far beyond alternate routes. T he absence of detailed da

contemporaneous Estonian hoards makes it impossible to deter

if

theTartu hoard was typical or

anomalous. Furthermore,

the

size

of the

Tartu hoard could meanthat relatively

few

Smnid

may have distorted

the chronological and

mint

distributions.

N

theless, one possible explanation for the differences between the

and Russian hoards should be noted.

Written

evidence suggests

strongly

thatdirhams

did not

come directly

from

Transoxania

to

ea

Europe but were brought from

Bulgaria

on the Volga or, at an e

period,

from

Khazaria by Rs/Rus' merchants. T he existence of

intermediaries

also explains howByzantine, Volga Bulgar, and we

European coins weremixed with the dirhams sent from Transox

While Volga Bulgar dirhams were most

likely

added in Bulgar

the Volga, neither Byzantine coinsof the

tenth-eleventh

centuries1

very many western European coins ever reached Volga Bulgar

la

These coins were most probably mixed with dirhams

at

some Ru

center

where

coins of various

types

and origin could be found.

also logical to assume that the Rs/Rus merchants would retu

the

Russian centers wherethey

had

obtained

the slaves an d

fr

to Islamic merchants in the Volga Bulgar and Khazar market

thereforc

seems

imlikely

that

dirham

hoards went directly

from

#ir iu on lli Volga t.o K s l . o n n . T he

dirh. 'itns

in

Iho. T u r i n

hoard

suinahly cwno

Uirongh

a

Hnssian

center

such ns Novgorod or

P

T he Tartu hoard could well have been composedor altered

from

selected by a

m erchant

in Russiawho was visiting Estonia. T he c

Kropotkin, Klady vizantiiskikh

monet

maps 7-8.

16 See the map accompanying V. M.Polin, Topografiia nakhodok zapadno

peiskikh monetX-XIIIvv. na territorii

drevneiRusi, Trudy

G rmitzah 9

pp.106-94


25/25

DlRHAM HOARD FROM TARTU 59

coins under such circumstances

may

have beenarbitrary

but it

could

have

involved

a

conscious decision about

the

type

of

dirhams

to

includod In nn y c v c M i l

th e

e x i v S l e n e e of

addi t ionnl

inlortncdiary

and further handling seems the bestpreseut explanation for the

between

the

artu

and

northwest

Russian hoards Monetary

may have been

limited

but it does appear to have had some

in a few cases The discovery of further Estonian

dirham

hoards

the 970s should enable us to resolve some of the problems presented

the 1958 artu hoard

Documents

The 1958 dirham hoard from Tartu in Estonia / Thomas S. Noonan