https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ring-brings-ancient-viking-islamic-civilizations-closer-together
They found a silver ring with an Arabic inscription in a Viking grave, but what I don't get is it's the only Arab item ever found in Viking lands, which doesn't seem like evidence of trade to me, it seems like the ring had more prestige, as if maybe it was stolen, or a gift?
Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, but Vikings weren't really into 'trading' for wealth?
It could have been taken when Vikings participated as mercenaries in the Crusades? Sigurd?
That's a terrible article written by a journalist projecting modern ideas of separation of civilisations on the past. If you're excavating a Viking-period site in Scandinavia, it is more likely you will find arabic (from Iran and the -stans) coins than European ones. Particularly the silver economy of Scandinavia was completely connected to that of the Middle East. Even the Scandinavian weight units were based on Arabic measures, with Arabic inscriptions being common on Viking weights. The excavations at Birka have provided the most data on this.