Analytical data of Roman and early Islamic glass established several primary glass production groups linked to glassmaking centres in the Levant and in Egypt. In contrast, the activities of secondary ...glass workshops are largely invisible in the compositional fingerprint of first millennium glass. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) of 261 glass finds from the Visigothic settlement of Tolmo de Minateda (Spain) revealed a site‐specific contamination pattern due to secondary glass processing and recycling, namely the enrichment of the glass batch by a unique combination of rare alkali elements (Li, K, Rb, Cs). With a median of 21 ppm, Li is particularly distinctive. Elevated lithium contents (Li>30 ppm) are also one of the characteristic features of Iberian plant ash glass from the Islamic period. The earliest known examples of this type of glass were found among the ninth‐century remains from Tolmo.
Rare alkali element contamination of medieval vitreous materials by both the crucible ceramic and fuel vapour are shown in this work. Systematic recycling of old cullet, using crucibles made from clay from the Central Iberian Massif, resulted in unique trace element patterns that can serve as identifiers of Iberian glass processing.
In the present study, the first archaeometric data on an ample selection of intentionally coloured (or decoloured) Early Roman glass (1st–2nd centuries AD) from the Archaeological Museum of Adria ...(Rovigo, Italy) are reported. The analysed samples are 61 in total, both transparent and opaque, and were characterised from the textural (SEM-EDS), mineralogical (XRPD) and chemical (XRF, EPMA, LA-ICP-MS) points of view. This combined approach allowed us to identify the raw materials and production technologies employed in the manufacture of glassware. Results for the transparent samples show that they are all silica-soda-lime glasses. Most of them, independently of colour, have compositions close to those of typical Roman glass, produced with natron as flux. No relationships were identified among chemical compositions, types or production techniques, but a dependence on bulk composition was identified for some particular colours, revealing the careful and intentional selection of raw materials. This is the case of Sb-colourless glass, produced with sand of high purity, a group of intensely coloured objects, mainly emerald green and black, produced with soda ash as flux, and some blue examples produced with various sources of sand or soda ash as flux. Two main types of opacifiers were identified for the opaque samples: calcium antimonate for white, mauve and blue glasses, and lead antimonate for the yellow ones; in one case, a yellow lead-tin antimonate was also identified. As regards the opaque glasses, most of the samples opacified with calcium antimonate are silica-soda-lime in composition, similar to the typical Roman glass. Instead, samples opacified with lead and/or lead-tin antimonates are lead glasses, suggesting different production technologies.
► An archaeometric study was carried on coloured Early Roman glasses from North-East Italy. ► Raw materials and production technologies of both glass and opacifiers were identified. ► The majority of the samples shows a ‘typical’ Roman glass composition. ► Some particular colours show a dependence on the bulk composition. ► Calcium or lead antimonates are the main opacifiers identified.
Juglet Pendants from Pannonia Dévai, Kata
Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae,
11/2020, Volume:
71, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Most juglet pendants are of 4th century from Pannonia, the glass is frequently dark, appearing black. Although juglet pendants have a greater concentration in the eastern Mediterranean, they are also ...widely attested in the empire’s western half. The following paper1 presents nine specimens from Hungary, eight from Pannonia Province. Three exemplars were parts of grave inventories, whose other items are also known (Bogád, Csongrád and Ságvár). All three burials can be securely dated to the fourth century. Despite the attractiveness of M. Stern’s suggestion, there is no good reason to associate the Pannonian juglet pendants recovered from mortuary contexts with Christianity. The pieces from Pannonia would rather suggest that juglet pendants cannot be associated with Christian beliefs because the other grave goods in the burials from which they were recovered belie this association.
New glass finds from the Kom el-Dikka site in Alexandria come from the excavation of Area FW located in the central part of the site. The bulk of the recorded material, made up of conical lamps, ...beakers and bowls, and poorly fashioned bottles, belongs to the late Roman period (4th–5th century AD). The uniformity in colour, distinctive low quality of the fabric and simple workmanship, all point to a common origin in local workshops covering the needs of the local market. A few pieces, including luxury cast and facet-cut tableware, apparently from a non-local source, represent the late Hellenistic/mid-Roman chronological horizon (2nd century BC–3rd century AD). Meriting note is new evidence of mosaic glass, once again confirming that this type of glass was manufactured in Alexandria in the mid-Roman period. The importance of this assemblage derives from the presence of early Roman luxury tableware which has seldom been observed before at Kom el-Dikka.
The subject of this study consists of 17 ancient glass fragments from the island of Ustica (Palermo, Italy) obtained from local museums. All the 17 glass fragments are stratigraphically ...decontextualized, as they were collected by archaeological surface surveys. Each fragment was analyzed by Electron Micro Probe Analyzer coupled with an Energy Dispersive X-Ray System (EMPA-EDS) and by Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to obtain the composition of major, minor and trace elements. Surface analyses revealed the presence of corrosion layers in most of the glass fragments which was evident also in the chemical data. Nevertheless, reconstruction of the glassmaking processes and the approximate period of production was possible for almost all the glass fragments. Less than half of the examined fragments are attributable to recognizable typologies as unguentaria, beakers, bottles, and vases; all the other small fragments are typologically undetermined. Out of 17 fragments only one fragment is of HLLA composition possibly being produced in 17
–18
century AD, while all the others can be attributed to soda glass with different periods of production: natron glass from Roman and Early Medieval period, plant-ash glass from High or Late Medieval period with the exception of possible Byzantine glass from 6th century AD, and synthetic soda glasses typical of modern era. These data confirm the discontinuous habitation of the island from the Roman period as well as the import of glass objects to the island.
In Polish literature, the perception of the organisation of glass production during the Roman Empire was shaped mostly in the 1980s and the 1990s. Thus the local model of glass production prevailed ...in these publications. In this paper, based on archaeological and written sources, the author challenges this point of view towards the centralised model of glass production widely accepted by scholars.
The combined PIXE–PIGE method was used for the analysis of 43 glass fragments from the archaeological site Tonovcov grad in western Slovenia, with 10 of these additionally being analysed by ...LA-ICP-MS. The glass objects were attributed to the Late Antique production of the 4th–7th c. AD, with two examples of early Roman glass and three glass beads, one of them presumably of oriental origin. The analysis showed typical natron-type glass, produced in the Levantine region around the river Belus, and a few examples of HIMT glass, which could be recognized also in several other recycled objects. Only one glass bead, found in Early Medieval context, was made of the ash of halophytic plants.
“Material Analysis in Cultural Heritage” describes the application of modern analytical techniques in the studies of selected historical materials, their properties, and processes they undergo. The ...topics include glass and ceramics, metal preservation, functionality and testing of historic and modern building materials, origins of specific stones, decomposition of painting pigments, and the construction of historic violins.
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