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The island of Birka, with the town,
Svarta Jorden (The Black Earth),
the fortress Borg and the track
of phosphate in the NW
The archaeological material in Birka brings a strong impression of a freeport of trade and a small factory activity. A broad track of a relative
concentration of phosphate in the soil, outside the settlement and between the harbours, indicates a large and intensive activity of loading
ships and handling of loads of merchandise. Significant findings like e.g. the khazaric ceramic jar, other objects of fine eastern art and
especially the khazarian imperial eagle in bronze, give, in parallel with the total lack of runic inscriptions, the evidence and impression of a
manifest presence of external and prestigious cultures, from east and west, and of their economical and political dominance during the
whole period.
The striking or rising eagle, Togrul or Togarmah (Turk. "the powerful eagle"), represents for Khazars the messenger and mediator of Tängri
(Turk. "The Lord-God-The sun"). It also represents the sacred royal imperial power (Hebr. Malchut Ha-Shmayim), since more than three
thousand years and is the heraldic symbol of the two merged royal clans (Hebr. Ha-Shechina and Turk. Ashina). Thus it is the very emblem
of any Khagan (Turk. "King of Kings, Emperor") of Khazars. This is also described on a Swedish runic stone, telling us about the inglorious
defeat some Swedes experienced from the Khazars and their "eagle", the Khagan, in "Khazarland" in their distant quest for the riches of
the Silkroad: "They went manly, far for gold, and in the eastern lead fed the eagle. They died eastward in Sarkland".
The structures of streets, houselots and houses in Birka seem unique for the context of Birka, Hedeby and Staraja Ladoga, but indicates a
connection to other places of trade in the southeast along the Silkroad. The imperial emissaries and the foremost merchants evidently lived
in fine houses, the craftsmen and the servants in the surrounding chacks, within the absolute town, and the thralls and the seamen in the
peripheral collective halls nearby their work and ships.
The balance of exchange was, when necessary, measured in silver and coins of silver. The terms of trade for silver, from the Khazarian
empire to Scandinavia, went increasingly positive. Dirhems from the moslem Caliphates were brought north, in even greater quantities.
They were often hidden as deposits into the riverbanks and at the seashores by travelling traders, all around the Baltic and the eastern
river systems. Now and then, these deposits are still discovered and then of course regarded as the most spectacular treasures.
Next page, Remarkable burials!
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