Description:This volume is the first of a series primarily intended as a report on the excavations carried out at Ribe from 1970 to 1976.In this series, various specialists will treat the material relating to their own fields. Each group of finds will be presented in catalogue form, supplemented by a commentary. The find complex as a whole is quite extensive and it may thus prove useful as comparative material for similar find complexes. Moreover, it is relatively well dated. At the same time, each topic is an integral part of an overall appraisal of the settlement, dating from the transition to the Viking Age, which has been excavated on the north side of the river, 'Ribe å'. As one of the three towns in Scandinavia in which Ansgar was permitted to establish a missionary station, Ribe has for many years been a silent witness and therefore a somewhat ignored factor. Now, however, it demands a greater degree of consideration in the evaluation of social and urban development on the threshold to historical times in Scandinavia.