The Role of Cities in the Early Medieval Economy

ABSTRACT This contribution explores the economic roles of cities in the early medieval economy, through the presentation of a range of archaeological datasets that can all be linked to urban production and/or consumption. The individual classes of evidence each highlight aspects of economic exchange that, when combined, help to flesh out a general model of the systems of exchange at work in post-Roman Iberia. These systems revolved around cities whose individual experiences varied according to local circumstances and whose participation in the wider trade networks also depended heavily on local conditions. As a supplement to the written sources of this period, the archaeological materials surveyed here contribute to an emerging picture of elite and non-elite economic activity in the sixth and seventh centuries. This in turn shapes a more nuanced understanding of the role played by cities in the transition from late Roman to post-Roman economic and political circumstances.