Were trading links between the Byzantines and early Saxon England widespread?
Large quantities of post-Roman pottery from Syria and Asia Minor have been found in western Britain and Ireland, and it is now well-established that Byzantine traders principally Syrians and Jews operated throughout the Mediterranean, and from there round the Iberian peninsula to Britain. There were also inland trading routes, though these can be identified with less certainty. Direct evidence for Byzantine/Anglo-Saxon trade links is limited, but it is not impossible that some at least of the traders serving western Britain had contact with the Anglo-Saxons to the east. Certainly, trade was being conducted over very long distances throughout this period; and for especially valuable or prestigious items, such as the situla, there is no reason why they should not have travelled long distances between their production and eventual owners.
