Ancient Glass Analysis

Resumen: El vidrio de al-Andalus ha recibido poco interés por parte de la investigación
especializada. Sin embargo, recientes avances han puesto de manifiesto su interés
no solo desde un punto de vista meramente formal sino también como un medio auxiliar
para conocer diversos aspectos de la sociedad andalusí.
En este trabajo se recopilan de manera muy sintética lo que sabemos en la actualidad
sobre el vidrio en al-Andalus. Partiendo de una breve introducción sobre la producción
y comercialización del vidrio en al-Andalus a partir de las investigaciones arqueométricas,
se bosqueja la evolución de sus formas y decoraciones a lo largo de la historia de
al-Andalus. Con ello tratamos de poner de relieve las grandes posibilidades que ofrece
su estudio multidisciplinar aunando la información de las fuentes escritas, la arqueología,
la tipológica y la composición química del vidrio. Una investigación que aún se
encuentra en un estado incipiente pero que ya se está constituyendo como una herramienta
muy relevante para el estudio de la evolución y difusión de las modas estéticas,
la tecnología, mecanismos de producción y el comercio en la historia de al-Andalus.
Palabras clave: Vidrio, Arqueometría, Tipología, al-Andalus, Arte Islámico.
Abstract: Glass from al-Andalus has received little attention from specialized research.
Recent progress has shown its interest not only from a formal perspective, but
also as an auxiliary source in understanding various aspects of Andalusian society. In
this paper, we have compiled in a very synthetic way what we know so far about glass
in al-Andalus. Starting with a brief introduction on the production and commercialisation
of glass in al-Andalus based on archaeometric research, we outline the evolution
of its forms and decorations throughout the history of al-Andalus. The aim is to
highlight the great potential offered by a multidisciplinary approach combining information
from written sources, archaeology, typology, and the chemical composition of
glass. The research on glass in al-Andalus is its infancy but is already becoming a relevant
tool for studying the development and diffusion of aesthetic trends, technologies,
mechanisms of production and trade in the history of al-Andalus.
Keywords: Glass, Archaeometry, Typology, al-Andalus, Islamic Art.

The composition and production of pre-modern glazed tiles in Pakistan are not well understood. Here, 38 glazed tile samples sourced from various monuments at Makli Hill and Lahore Fort in Pakistan, dating mainly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries CE, were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry for a comprehensive technological study to understand the methods used in their production. The analyses were supplemented by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to more fully characterise the raw materials used for the glazes. The Makli tile bodies are composed of clay-based ceramic whereas those from Lahore are stonepaste. Both are coated with soda-lime-silica glazes made using plant ash. Cobalt, copper, lead‑tin yellow and lead‑tin orange are identified as the glaze colorants. White glazes do not have an added opacifier or colorant, but are white due to the presence of an underlying layer of silica particles. Technological variations between the Makli and Lahore tiles are highlighted in the discussions, the former found to resemble traditional kashi ware of Sindh-Multan in their make-up, while the latter matches Mughal tile-work that prevailed for a while locally in the seventeenth century.

The article publishes the results of a chemical and technological study of objects from the circle of East European champlevé enamels in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. The metal bases of most of the jewelry items were made of multicomponent alloys with a low zinc concentration – an evidence of a permanent alloy remelting. Traces of tinning have been preserved on some items. The cells for the enamel are carved along the grooves marked during the casting process. No territorial or chronological differences in the technique and composition of metal bases were identified based on the available material. Polychrome jewelry demonstrates a wide range of enameling techniques, including those not typical for “Barbarian” enamels. The study revealed some features in the composition of the red enamel that mark items of an early period of the style development and objects presumably associated with East Baltic production centrs.

Among the many spectacular finds from Tutankhamen’s tomb are two glass headrests, one turquoise blue and the other dark blue. Both are of Reisner’s Type II-1,2 with a short base and a single stem or pillar linking the elongated rectangular base or foot with the crescent-shaped upper part. The bases are about 28 by 10 centimeters and, at the edge, just under one centimeter thick; the height of the headrests is about 18 centimeters, close to the width of the crescent-shaped upper part. While the headrests are similar in size and shape, they differ not only in color but also in the details of their manufacture and decoration, as well as in their post-excavation history. This note presents some observations based on analyses of these headrests, which were undertaken as part of an ongoing research project triggered by the recent restoration of the gold mask of Tutankhamen.

Strings of colorful glass beads were a popular commodity traded throughout ancient Nubia in the earlier half of the first millennium AD. Combining macroscopic examination with laboratory analyses (LA-ICP-MS), the author breaks new ground in Nubian studies, establishing diagnostic markers for a study of trading markets and broader economic trends in Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia. Archaeometric results, lucidly presented and discussed, identify the origins of the glass from which the beads under investigation were made. The demonstrated South Indian/Sri Lankan provenance of some of the ready-made beads from Nubian burial contexts and a reconstruction of their distribution patterns in Northeast Africa is the first undisputed proof of contacts between Nubia and the Red Sea coast. Reaching beyond that, it shows Nubia’s involvement in the Asian maritime trade, whether directly or indirectly, during a period of intensive interchanges between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.

This paper presents the development of glass working in Ancient Egypt exemplified by typical finds, especially glass vessels that reached their peak in the New Kingdom. After summarizing the process of glass production and related sites, the development of glass working in Late Bronze Age Egypt will be described in stages, following a paradigm for technological innovations. Aspects like the origin of Egyptian glass working, the importance of glass in Late Bronze Age long distance trade, and the question of a ritual signification of glass in the Pharaonic culture are addressed. Finally, Egyptian glass of the first millennium BC is described in an overview referring to the most important categories of glass finds and sites.

The paper presents a set of glass fragments excavated at several different locations within and outside the late Roman
fortified imperial residence Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia). This small group of eighteen fragments and mosaic glass
tesserae are distinguished by their cobalt blue colour. The majority of the finds are mosaic tesserae (six pcs) and sheets of glass
(five pcs), which could be related to architectural decoration (sectilia panels). Others are pieces left behind from secondary glass
working (four pcs). There are also two fragments tentatively identified as window pane pieces, and only one find is a vessel sherd.
The materials are dated to the 4th century. Significantly, some of the production debris and the two “window pane” fragments
were found inside the destruction of a glass furnace. The analyses of the chemical glass composition of the finds confirmed that
the blue colourant in all samples is cobalt, and antimony is also present at notable levels (except for one sample), likely to produce
opacification of the glass. Regarding the origin of the raw glass, the data on almost all pieces suggests a Syro-Palestinian
provenance, and a single sample could be related to Egyptian primary glass production. Importantly, the concentrations of the
oxides added to the base glasses in order to modify the colour are positively correlated in certain samples, hinting at the makeup
of the cobalt bearing ingredient and at a likely existence of particular production practices of the late Roman period.

Beads are important and often culturally diagnostic artifacts, although their full archaeological, chronological, and ethno-historical information potential may be difficult to unlock, at least in part because of spread through long-distance trade, possible longevity in use, and the visual similarity of many beads, particularly to the non-specialist. In contrast to the relatively extensive research on small Indo-Pacific beads, there has been little academic attention to other types of South and Southeast Asian glass beads from the first millennium CE. We report here on four such groups: Bird Star, dark blue or black drawn beads with a trailed design in white glass of a bird on one side and a star on the other; hexagonal bicone, usually translucent beads from two to five centimeters long; opaque monochrome beads, ranging from one to three centimeters in diameter; and Jatim, large and small polychrome beads named for their close association with east Java, or Jawa Timur. Although there is little archaeological or textual data for these beads, we find that compositional analyses, derived from LA-ICP-MS, SEM-EDS and EPMA measurements, can help answer such questions as what types of glass were used for their manufacture, and was it imported or locally produced; was the glass colored locally; who made the Jatim millefiori mosaic canes; and do the four types of glass beads represent four separate traditions? The answers to these questions help us to characterize potential beadmaking sites, and give us some insight into the technological choices made by the beadmakers themselves.

Major and trace elements are presented for 149 glass fragments ranging in date from the Roman to Early Islamic periods (1st-mid-8th centuries CE), excavated during the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project's fieldwork between 2011 and 2016. The results confirm a clear dominance of Levantine glass types, but also reveal 12 glasses of Egyptian and Mesopotamian compositions recovered from two houses destroyed by the major earthquake which hit parts of the Levant in January 749 CE. These closed and undisturbed contexts from the final phase of occupation reveal the presence of relatively more pristine Levantine as well as imported material that is less visible in earlier contexts in the Gerasa assemblage, where the recycling indexes are high and chemical signatures of any exotic glass were largely lost due to remelting and their dilution by the overwhelming quantities of glass produced in the Levantine region. This emphasizes that imported glass may frequently be underestimated or even invisible in glass compositional studies, depending on the archaeological context sampled and the approach taken to artifact quantification. Levantine glass was attributed to Roman, Late Roman (Jalame) and Byzantine/Early Islamic (Apollonia) productions based primarily on MnO, Al 2 O 3 and Na 2 O concentrations, which offered an advantage over previous approaches. While colorants in weakly colored glass indicate recycled material, their concentrations are sensitive to context, with higher concentrations in the early periods when the use of intentionally colored glass was more frequent. We have therefore developed the concept of the intensity of recycling, which was estimated using components modified during prolonged melting, such as K 2 O, P 2 O 5 and Cl. A pronounced enrichment in CaO, also dependent upon the intensity of recycling, may affect the assignment to compositional groups and should be taken into consideration in future. Recycling in Gerasa appears to have been more intensive than was the case for cities closer to the primary production centers on the Mediterranean coast, consistent with the view that the dependency on recycling increases further away from the source of the primary material. In contrast, the cities in the coastal plain could readily exploit the marine transportation network, which appears to have played a major role in the distribution of raw glass.

Museum August Kestner (Hannover / Germany) owns a highly important Egyptian object made of blue, yellow and white glass: a fragment of a statuette representing the Egyptian goddess Taweret (Thoeris), inv. no. 2616, previously in the collection of August Kestner (1777-1853). Together with two monkey-figurines excavated in Greece (acropolis of Mycenae and lower citadel of Tiryns), all three fragments bear a cartouche with the name of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (Dynasty 18, 1425-1400 BC). This fact makes them the humankind's oldest dated sculptures from the material glass. Taweret is usually represented as a figure consisting of three animals: hippopotamus body standing upright on its rear legs, the paws are those of a lion, back and tail a crocodile. Allthough thousands of statuettes showing Taweret in the described feature have been preserved, the glass statuette in Hannover is absolutely unique, because it is the only known example which combines the three animals within the head: hippopotamus ears, lion nose and crocodile teeth. Samples of the glass were taken and analyzed (chapter by Rainer Werthmann, pp. 37-44). Further, other glass objects bearing royal names of early Dynasty 18, belonging to the earliest attestations for glass in Egypt, are presented and discussed in this contribution.

Lidská oběť z pozdní doby halštatské v jižních Čechách? K interpretaci nálezů pod výšinnou lokalitou starší doby železné na Vraném vrchu u Spolí, okr. Český Krumlov A human sacrifice from the Final Hallstatt period in south Bohemia? Interpreting finds from the slope of Early Iron Age hilltop site on Vraný vrch near Spolí, Southern Bohemia Miloslav Chytráček -Ondřej Chvojka -Jan John -Jan Michálek -Petra Stránská -Tereza Šálková Příspěvek se věnuje nálezům odkrytým na Vraném vrchu u Spolí, okr. Český Krumlov. V nadmořské výšce 635 m u paty skalního výběžku na svahu spadajícím příkře k Vltavě byla v hl. 20 cm nalezena skupina šesti bronzových náramků z pozdní doby halštatské. Při následném sondážním výzkumu ověřujícím místo nálezu se ve stejné hloubce našlo deset zlomků dislokovaných lidských kostí z dospělého jedince, v těsné blízkosti náramků ležel skleněný kroužek hnědožluté barvy o průměru 34 mm. Celková situace svědčí pravděpodobně o "obětním" charakteru lokality. Určení rostlinných makrozbytků umožnilo částečně rekonstruovat přírodní prostředí zkoumaného místa. Analýza artefaktů i celé nálezové situace, evidence dalších nálezů v širším okolí depotu náramků, svědectví výjevů na soudobém situlovém umění i paralely z prostoru střední a jižní Evropy umožňují položit si řadu otázek o podobách různých náboženských rituálů starší doby železné. Výjimečný skleněný artefakt ze Spolí prozrazuje nadregionální kontakty, práce se v širších souvislostech zabývá též problematikou rekonstrukce dálkových koridorů.