Early mediaeval trade contacts between Slavs and Vikings in the light of petroarchaeological data of schist whetstones

The aim of this project is to study some of archaeological artefacts from norwegian archeological sites, which are in Oslo Museum's collection. They contain whetstones made from schists, which are present in many sites not only in Norway, but in western p art of Europe. There is a suspection that some of viking whetstones were found in polish archaeological sites. Using petrological investigation and archaeological typology it is needed to verify this thesis. For that reason a comparative studies with norw egian scientists should be taken. It is a part of wider reaserch project connected with PhD dissertation titled - Exploitation and distribution of stone in early mediaeval times in Lower Silesia. This research could shed a new light on slavo-viking trade routes and contacts in early mediaeval times. Petroarchaeological study of scandinavian whetstones compared with my scientific results (petrological and archaeological data of our polish whetstones) will verify the probable way of stone distribution from north to south. To do this scientific correctly it is needed to gain some probes from scandinavian outcrops and make a comparative study with archaeological material from viking age in Norway, in consultation with norwegian scientists (archaeologists and geologists).