Changes in the supply of eastern Mediterranean glasses to Visigothic Spain (original) (raw)
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One hundred and forty-one glass fragments from medieval Ciudad de Vascos (Toledo, Spain) were analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The glasses fall into three types according to the fluxing agents used: mineral natron, soda-rich plant ash, and a combination of soda ash and lead. The natron glasses can be assigned to various established primary production groups of eastern Mediterranean provenance. Different types of plant ash glasses indicate differences in the silica source as well as the plant ash component, reflecting changing supply mechanisms. While the earlier plant ash groups can be related to Islamic glasses from the Near East, both in terms of typol-ogy and composition, the chemical signature of the later samples appear to be specific to glass from the Iberian Peninsula. This has important implications for our understanding of the emerging glass industry in Spain and the distribution patterns of glass groups and raw materials. The plant ash that was used for the Vascos glasses is rich in soda with low levels of potash, similar to ash produced in the eastern Mediterranean. It could therefore be possible that Levantine plant ash was imported and used in Islamic period glass workshops in Spain. Unlike central and northern Europe where an independent glass industry based on potassium-rich wood ash developed during the Carolingian period, the prevalence of soda ash and soda ash lead glass on the Iberian Peninsula indicates its commercial and technological interconnection with the Islamic east. Our study thus traces several stages leading to the development of a specifically Spanish primary glassmaking industry.
J. Henderson, J. Evans, K. Nikita, 2010
The earliest known man made glass comes from Mesopotamia and dates to the 23 rd century BC. By the 16 th century BC the first glass vessels appear in Mesopotamia, but the earliest evidence for the fusion of glass from raw materials has been found at the 13 th century BC Egyptian site of Qantir. Chemical analyses of this elite Late Bronze Age material have produced compositional distinctions between glasses found in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is however debatable whether trace element concentrations provide a (geological) provenance for the glasses. By using neodymium and strontium isotopes to fingerprint well-dated chemically analysed 15 th to 11 th century BC glass samples, we show that independent primary production probably occurred in both Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 14 th century BC, and that both of these areas exported glass to Greece. We also discuss the technological implications for glass manufacture and colouring that these new data provide. The results add significant new scientific evidence for glass trade between Late Bronze Age palatial societies. Moreover, it is the first time that this methodology has been used to investigate Bronze Age glass.
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 10, pp. 1-24 (highlighted in Science, July 2010). , 2010
The earliest known man made glass comes from Mesopotamia and dates to the 23rd century BC. By the 16th century BC the first glass vessels appear in Mesopotamia, but the earliest evidence for the fusion of glass from raw materials has been found at the 13th century BC Egyptian site of Qantir. Chemical analyses of this elite Late Bronze Age material have produced compositional distinctions between glasses found in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is however debatable whether the trace element concentrationsprovide a provenance for the glasses. By using neodymium and strontium isotopes to fingerprint well-dated chemically analysed 15th to 11th century glass samples, we show that independent primary production probably occurred in both Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 14th century BC, and that both of these areas exported glass to Greece. We also discuss the technological implications for glass manufacture and colouring that these new data provide. The results add significant new data to the scientific evidence for glass trade between Late Bronze Age palatial societies. Moreover, it is the first time that this methodology has been used to investigate Bronze Age glass.
In the Late Roman period, the city of Butrint (SW Albania) was one of the most important seaports of the eastern Mediterranean due to its very favourable position and an extended presence of human settlements (from the 5th century BC to the modern age). The city seems to have particularly flourished after being declared a Roman colony under Augustus in 31 BC, but even after the Roman period, Butrint remained a central node in eastern trade routes. During the archaeological campaign of 2011 directed by David Hernandez (University of Notre Dame e US), aimed at identifying the eastern border of the Butrint Roman Forum, several glass artifacts were recovered and dated to the late antique and early medieval period. In this study 33 fragments of glass (32 transparent, 1 opaque) were analysed from different objects (drinking glasses, bowls, etc) mostly dated from the 5th to the 6th centuries AD. The aims of this work are: i) understanding the raw materials, the manufacturing techniques employed for glass production, and their evolution through the time; ii) correctly classifying items of uncertain date; iii) interpreting the economic development and trade models of the area. Chemical analyses were performed by electron microprobe (EMPA) for major and minor elements and by ICP mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) for trace elements. The chemical results indicate that the samples were produced with natron as fluxing agent. They can be divided, on the basis of the concentrations of Fe, Ti, and Mn, between the two main compositional groups widespread in the Mediterranean from the 4th century onward: HIMT (23 samples), and Levantine I (10 samples). Among the HIMT samples, both “weak” HIMT (13 samples), and “strong” HIMT (10 samples) were identified. This variety of compositions indicates that in Butrint, between the end of the 4th and the end of the 6th century, the glass materials were probably imported from different suppliers.
The glass from the arrabal of Arrixaca (Murcia, 12th-13th centuries
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2024
This article presents an assemblage of 36 glass samples excavated in the urban site of San Esteban, part of the arrabal of Arrixaca (Murcia) (in al-Andalus, an arrabal was a relatively dense urbanised area outside the city walls) in contexts securely dated to the 12th and early 13th century, spanning the rule of Ibn Mardanīš, and the early period of Almohad domination in the city. The samples were analysed by electron microprobe (EMPA) for major and minor elements and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for trace elements. The results are examined within the context of glass production, circulation, and consumption in al-Andalus and the Islamicate Mediterranean more broadly. The results show that some of the glasses found in San Esteban-Arrixaca may have been imported from other Islamicate regions (Egypt and Mesopotamia), but that the vast majority can be related to previously recognised compositional Iberian glass groups. At the same time, the identification of several fragments of production waste and raw glass suggest that some glass-working facility may have existed in the vicinity of San Esteban-Arrixaca. The compositional evidence also indicates that recycling (including of imported glass objects) may have been a fairly common practice in Andalusi glassmaking, but it is suggested that some of the usual chemical markers of recycling may, in the case of al-Andalus and perhaps also elsewhere in the medieval Mediterranean, be the result of the cross-breeding of glass-and glaze-making activities.
The analytical study of Late Antique glass vessel assemblages from present- day Bulgaria identifi ed a distinct compositional group, primarily dated to the fi fth century ce. It is characterised by manganese decolouration and virtually absent antimony, and is recognised here as s é rie 3.2 of Foy et al. ( 2003 ). We discuss this specifi c glass group and its distribution as attested with materials found in contexts from the late fourth century ce through to the early sixth century ce, from the western Mediterranean, Italy and several sites in the Balkans, among others. These comparisons provide evidence about the overall chronology of s é rie 3.2 and suggest that its wide spatial circulation had various patterns and was governed by various socio- economic mechanisms, from an inter- regional through to various regional and local levels. We discuss the relationship of this predominantly fi fth- century ce glass group with the later s é rie 2.1 of Foy et al. ( 2003 ), which gradually replaces the earlier glass group, possibly starting around the turn of the sixth century ce. We highlight specifi c diff erences in production technology of the two groups at the level of primary production while also emphasising the signifi cance of reuse and recycling as another instance of spread of glass compositions.
Palestine and Egypt supplied the Mediterranean and Europe with virtually all of its glass for most of the first millennium CE. While the Muslim conquest in the 7th century saw major political and economic adjustment, immediate changes to material culture appear to have been minimal. This paper examines the impact of the Byzantine-Islamic transition on the natron glass industry of Palestine from the 7th to 12th century. A series of 133 well-contextualised glass vessels from selected excavations in modern day Israel have been analysed for major, minor and trace elements using LA-ICP-MS. These glasses are assigned to previously established primary production groups, allowing the elucidation of the chronology of key changes in glass production in the region. Results indicate a relatively abrupt compostional change in the late 7th-early 8th centuries, covering the reforming reigns of al-Malik and al-Walid, which marks the end of " Byzantine " glass production and the establishm...