Eurasian Silver is digital archive dedicated to the provenance and modern collecting histories of 3rd- to 13th-century silver vessels discovered in hoards across the Eurasian continent.
The corpus of 3rd- through 13th-century silver vessels is extraordinarily rich, yet only a handful of objects– mostly housed in American or Western European collections and lacking provenance– are regularly researched and published. This imbalance stems largely from the hurdles faced in accessing collections across Eurasia and scholarship published predominantly in Russian and other less commonly studied languages. Thus, I envision this platform providing a centralized foundation for future research, offering access to core vessel data, essential bibliographies, and the fascinating provenance stories connected with each hoard find.
This project would not be possible without the rigorous work of many scholars who came before me. It builds upon the foundational knowledge established in the first half of the 20th century by Valerii Chernetsov, Iakov Smirnov, and Kamilla Trever, as well as the seminal mid-to-late 20th century studies of Vladimir Lukonin, Vladislav Darkevich, Boris Marshak, Vasilii Leshchenko, and Prudence Harper. In the 21st century, this tradition continues in the ongoing research of Arkadii Baulo, Tat'iana Chichko, and Natal’ia Fedorova on the circulation and later contexts of Eurasian silver. Through this platform, I aim to honor and build upon these collective legacies by synthesizing existing scholarship alongside by own research on vessel biographies.
Eurasiansilver.com first launched in 2020. To accomodate a growing digital corpus, I redesigned the site's information architecture in 2025 to implement a scalable content management system with enhanced search, sort, and filtering capabilities. In 2026, work began on building this updated platform and migrating vessel records to better serve researcher and students worldwide.