Study of medieval glass fragments from Savona (Italy) and their relation with the glass produced in Altare (original) (raw)
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ANALYSIS OF EARLY MEDIEVAL GLASS FROM EXCAVATIONS AT 'PIAZZA BOVIO', NAPLES (ITALY
The archaeological excavation of 'Piazza Bovio' at Naples has yielded a large deposit, characterized by exceptional findings relating to the production of a glass workshop dated to the sixth to seventh centuries AD. The workshop features, coupled with the presence of broken glass for recycling and abundant glass scrap, leads us to identify the area as part of a secondary workshop. Selected finished objects and glass scraps were characterized by SEM/ EDS and LA–ICP–MS and compared with major compositional groups of glass recognized in the western Mediterranean during the first millennium AD. The aim is to verify the hypothesis of a secondary production in Naples, using raw glass from the Levant area. Three different natron groups were identified on the basis of the colour and the chemical composition. The naturally coloured (blue–green) group is consistent with Levantine I glass. The yellow–green group is associated with HIMT glass, while the colourless glass was produced with different raw materials and probably in another specialized workshop.
Chemical Papers
The history of the production of glass objects started about 3500 years ago. Glass is a fascinating material with a cultural and technological history: the integrated approach of scientific and traditional archaeological issues contributes to the reconstruction of the production technology of artefacts, as well as their trade and exchange. The findings from excavations in the territory of Ravenna (Italy) are the starting point for the reconstruction of the possible contacts between Italy and Central Europe. In Medieval times, glass vessels of different types, firstly produced in Mediterranean regions, spread to many areas. The present work analyses the possible typological and chemical affinities between a set of samples, dated back to the 13th - 16th centuries, found in the archaeological excavations of the Monastery of Saint Severus (Classe, Ravenna) with the same type of glasses found in different regions of Central Europe. This work reports and discusses data obtained by archaeological and archaeometric studies of three glass vessel types: prunted beakers, so-called kropfflasche and ampoules. The prunted beaker (nuppenbecher, verre a gouttes) - cylindrical vessels decorated with protrusions along the body - was probably made by Italian glassblowers in 13th-15th century; it reached Central Europe and appeared in numerous archaeological site from France to Czech Republic (Han 1975; Newby 1985; Whitehouse 1985; Gyürky 1986; Newby 1991; Foy e Bailly-Maître 2014; Sedláčková et al. 2014). “Kropfflasche” is a particular type of globular bottle, produced in the 13th-14th century. Similar bottles were be found in: Herzegovina (Andjelić 1975; Wenzel 1975), the Duke’s Palace of Budapest (Gyürky 1986), Czech Republic (Sedláčkovà 2006), Bohemia (Hejdová e Nechvátal 1970) and France (Harden 1971). The last type of the analysed glass – the ampoule - became very common from the end of the 13th century in ecclesiastic sites, used for consecrate oil or wine. Archaeological contextualisation of the site and chrono-typological study of glass vessels were associated to chemical analyses, performed to characterise the composition of the glassy matrix (major and minor components as well as trace elements). The results were elaborated according to the archaeometric glass classification and provenancing of raw materials, shedding new light on glass production in late Medieval times and interpreting the relations and the exchanges between geographical areas and related cultures.
Archaeological and Archaeometric Study of the Roman and Late Antique Glass
The Yurta-Stroyno Archaeological Project. Studies on the Roman Rural Settlement in Thrace, 2022
1413 glass fragments were found at the settlement of Yurta -Stroyno during the three years of excavation and one year of the surface survey. Most of the retrieved glass was highly fragmented, which is a result of the fragility of the material itself as well as of its deposition in secondary contexts. The glass collection from Yurta -Stroyno includes a wide range of vessels and glass items, such as personal ornaments and window panes. For the vessels, high quality glass was used, resulting in thin -walled fragments made of translucent, colourless glass, with a minimum of impurities. glass was decorated by wheel -cutting, mould blowing and applied threads. During the surface survey, a group of specific glass fragments was found, later identified as waste from glass production. these include threads, drops, moils, heat -melted fragments and fragments of raw glass, with the latter counting 81 pieces with total weight of 189 g. The retrieved glass material was first typologically classified and preliminary dated based on comparattive data from other settlements, further, the method of XRF analysis was chosen to complement the data needed to interpret the finds. The analysed set of samples represents a selection of different glass objects (89 pcs.), and fragments of the raw glass and the production waste (including production indicators; 28 pcs.)
In the framework of the archaeometric research on Apulian Late Antique glass, a collection of24 glass vessels (third to seventh centuries AD) and production indicators found at Herdonia(Foggia, Italy) was examined, by means of SEM–EDS, EMPA, ICP–MS and LA–ICP–MS. Afragment of crucible was further investigated by SEM–EDS and EMPA. The results obtainedwere discussed together with another glass collection from Herdonia previously investigated.The full set of 48 samples was made of siliceous sands mixed with plant ashes (two samples: adark green slab and a colourless beaker/lamp) or natron (all the other 46 samples). The latterwere assigned to the following compositional groups: HIMT, Levantine 1, RNCBGY1,RNCBGY2, RC/LAC-Sb, intermediate HIMT/RNCBGY1, intermediate RNCBGY1/HIMT,intermediate Levantine/RNCBGY2 and two other groups, the CaO-rich HIMT and theCaO-rich/Na2O poor HIMT, which showed a prevailing Adriatic distribution and a closesimilarity to the weak HIMT glass group. Most Herdonia samples were similar to the HIMTproductions, and thus of likely Egyptian origin, while a smaller number of samples referredto the Levantine productions.
MEDIEVAL GLASS FROM ROCCA DI ASOLO (NORTHERN ITALY): AN ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY
Archaeometry, 2011
An archaeometric study was performed on 33 medieval glass samples from Rocca di Asolo (northern Italy), in order to study the raw materials employed in their production, identify analogies with medieval glass from the Mediterranean area and possible relationships between chemical composition and type and/or production technique, contextualize the various phases of the site and extend data on Italian medieval glass. The samples are soda-lime-silica in composition, with natron as flux for early medieval glasses and soda ash for the high and late medieval ones. Compositional groups were identified, consistent with the major compositional groups identified in the western Mediterranean during the first millennium AD. In particular, Asolo natron glass is consistent with the HIMT group and recycled Roman glass; soda ash glass was produced with the same type of flux (Levantine ash) but a different silica source (siliceous pebbles, and more or less pure sand). Cobalt was the colouring agent used to obtain blue glass; analytical data indicate that at least two different sources of Co were exploited during the late medieval period. Some data, analytical and historical, suggest a Venetian provenance for the high/late medieval glass and a relationship between type of object (beaker or bottle) and chemical composition.
Heritage, 2023
This work reports the results of the analyses performed on a set of glass finds from the “Gaetano Chierici” collection in the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia. Forty-eight typologically heterogeneous glass finds were included in the list of the analyzed objects, dating from the fifth century BCE to the first century CE. The objects primarily consisted of glass beads; however, bangles, pinheads, and one vessel fragment were also included in the set. The items were analyzed using noninvasive spectroscopic methods that were implemented with portable equipment on the museum’s premises. Fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy was used to identify the coloring species in the glass matrix, while X-ray fluorescence spectrometry provided compositional information. Both techniques allowed for a discussion of the mechanisms of coloring and opacification, as well as the raw materials used for this purpose. The results provided a complex picture of the various colorants used to manipulate the appearance of the glass, which was a crucial aspect in the creation of the personal adornments represented by these glass items. The data revealed evidence of different sources of raw glass and colorants. Most of the samples were colored with cobalt, but iron and copper also influenced the color of many of them. Both white and yellow were utilized for the glass decorations, and these colors were achieved with the addition of either antimony-containing crystals or tin-containing ones. This finding suggests that the transition from antimonate to stannate started as early as the second century BCE. The “Gaetano Chierici” collection contains representative objects distributed throughout the investigated period. The results obtained here are a starting point for future studies of glass technology and provenance in the area.
Twenty glasses from Farfa Abbey in Italy were analysed via electron microprobe in order to provenance the samples, estimate their date of origin, and identify medieval production technologies. The samples are mixture of natron and plant ash glasses, and their compositions suggest the use of recycled natron glass in the assemblage. It was common practice at Farfa’s contemporaries, particularly San Vincenzo al Volturno and Nogara, to use old Roman mosaic tesserae as a source of glass as well as colour; several samples point to the use of opaque white tesserae for trailing decoration. It is possible that the tesserae were sourced from a Roman building present during the first occupation period at Farfa. The plant ash glasses have compositions consistent with medieval Tuscan glass, suggesting that Farfa used local sand and Levantine ash to produce vessels during the 13-15th centuries. As this is the first archaeometric study to be carried out on Farfa glass, the data are significant in that they show how Farfa fits in to the narrative of medieval glass production in central Italy.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2018
In this work, we investigate on the origin of Late Medieval glass from 12 previously and recently excavated archaeological sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Croatia (Dalmatia). The present work aims to contribute to filling the data gap on the glass distribution in the Balkan region, as well as to provide new insights on glass trade and its impact in the region. Up to now, the knowledge of Medieval glass from the western Balkan (Bosnia up to Bobovac) and eastern Adriatic hinterland (Dalmatian hinterland between Zadar and Dubrovnik, and Herzegovina) remained limited. The lack of archaeometrical data caused limited comparisons with similar materials from other regions in which Venetian glass was used. A representative sample set of 129 glass fragments from the second half of the fourteenth century to the beginning of the fifteenth century was analysed by combined particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and particle-induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE) measurements. The studied glass vessels are mostly different from the characteristic Venetian shapes, but they are made with Venetian raw glass, demonstrating the Venetian vitrum blanchum was already widespread in the Adriatic in the second half of the fourteenth-beginning of the fifteenth c. An open question remains whether the origin of the glass vessel production was specifically Venetian or local by adopting the Venetian technology and importing the raw materials.
Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
2020
Previous analytical studies show that most of Northern Italian glass has been heavily recycled and that mixing of natron and plant ash glass was occurring (Verità and Toninato 1990; Verità et al. 2002; Uboldi and Verità 2003; Andreescu-Treadgold and Henderson 2006; Silvestri and Marcante 2011). The re-use of "old Roman glass" has been interpreted as stagnation in glass trade from the primary production areas. However, the reintroduction of plant ash glass on sites such as Torcello, Nogara, and in Lombardy at the same time as it was reintroduced in the Levant, strongly indicates long-distance contacts with the Levant at least from the eighth century CE. This paper addresses the key issue of recycling by focusing on the compositional nature of glass traded and reworked in Northern Italy after the seventh century CE set in a broad Mediterranean context by analysing major, minor, and trace elements in eighty-nine glass samples (seventh to the eleventh century AD) from the glass workshop of Piazza XX Settembre, Comacchio. Five major previously proposed compositional groups of glass have been identified from Comacchio (Levantine Apollonia and Jalame types, HIMT, Foy-2, and plant ash glass). The impact of recycling and mixing practices in Comacchio glass is also discussed with the help of known recycling markers and selected ratios (major and trace elements). The mixing between Levantine, HIMT, and plant ash glass is highlighted and end-members of potential natron to natron mixing compositional groups have been identified. The compositional nature of plant ash glass from Northern Italy is discussed in light of their trace element content and production areas.