Glass beads excavated from a 9th-century Viking-era site in Sweden were chemically analyzed and found to match compositions characteristic of glass produced in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the same period. Other artifacts at the site, including silver coins minted in the Abbasid Caliphate, also reflect long-distance contacts. Local written sources from this site are sparse, and earlier interpretations had treated such finds as anomalies.
Based on the passage, which inference is most strongly supported?
- A
The Abbasid Caliphate had no contact with Northern Europe
- B
Glass beads cannot be chemically analyzed for compositional clues
- Ccheck_circle
Material remains can revise interpretations that relied primarily on the limited written record
- D
Written sources are always more reliable than archaeological evidence
Explanation
Compositional and numismatic evidence revising prior interpretations supports A. B, C, D contradict the passage.