This award supports archaeological research on the development of trade networks in the North Atlantic and women's role in weaving cloth and participating in these trade networks for 1000 years. Past studies tell us that trade in the middle ages connected the North Atlantic islands to only one country. However, this scientist's earlier research showed that nearly 1,000 years ago the Vikings traded and sold cloth in London and other European markets. This means that 900 years ago, women in places as far away as the islands of the North Atlantic made cloth for markets in distant places. The reason this is important is because it suggests that women's work was key to developing commodity markets that were the ancestors of today's market. By understanding how early international trade began in the North Atlantic and expanded as far as the Volga river, the research will contribute knowledge about the emergence of today's more complicated trade systems, how trade affects women's labor, and how people make decisions about what to make and what to trade.
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology