Spätmittelalterliche Fässer als Transportverpackung im hansischen Handelssystem

Abstract

In the late medieval hanseatic trade the barrel was the universal packing for all  kinds of goods. This paper is based on a research of 25 barrels and about 80  single barrel bottoms from the 13 -16th century found in secondary use or as  rubbish in the Hanse city of Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). This survey  deals with the following aspects according to the primary use of late medieval barrels as “containers” used in the trading system of the Hanse: Classifi cation of the archaeological barrel fi nds; historical barrel measures and norms; origin and  original content; exactness of volume and the process of calibration; tare and  barrel weight and the meaning of the marks on barrels and bottoms. In this  connection the research on archaeological barrelfi nds are able to get new results  in the fi eld of the producing process of barrels and in the historical metrology.  Therefore they are an important source for further research in the history of economics.