| Summary: | Garnet-inlaid metalwork is one of the most instantly recognizable emblems of the elite culture that emerged in the North Sea zone during the 5th to 7th centuries. The giving and receiving of such precious objects played a key role in cementing socio-political relationships, by enhancing the honour of both donor and recipient (Arrhenius 1985. – Arrhenius 1998. – Bazelmans 1998). The use of garnet inlays derived ultimately from Graeco-Roman lapidary traditions, with the deep purple-red colour of the stones connoting »rank and wealth« (Webster 2012, 59-60. – Adams 2011a). Provenance studies are revealing the sources from which the garnets used in early medieval metalwork probably originated (see, inter alia, Quast / Schüssler 2000. – Perin et al. 2007. – Mannerstrand / Lundqvist 2003. – But see also Adams 2011a for a cautionary reminder of the complexities and challenges involved in such analysis). Remarkably little, however, is known of the conditions in which trade in these gemstones was conducted and how they circulated within northwest Europe and Scandinavia. This paper approaches these questions by considering where garnets are likely to have entered North Sea (and Baltic) exchange networks; what the decline in the availability of garnets – especially the timing of that decline – suggests about the networks by which they circulated; and whether scientific analysis can shed light on how garnets circulated amongst merchants, goldsmiths and clients
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