Summary
This paper discusses raw materials used in ancient glasses. Following a consideration of some archaeological reasons for studying glass, the discussion concentrates on the evidence provided by chemical analysis of the glass, and focuses on glass from later prehistoric Western Europe. Consideration of the major, minor and trace components of the glass leads to a conclusion that prehistoric glass artisans were able closely to control the addition of small quantities of colorants, opacifiers and clarifiers to the glass melt. Some possible ways of introducing such small quantities of these substances are suggested. A related implication is that glass production in prehistoric Europe was a mainly specialist industry, being part of a ‘high-status’socio-economic sphere. When interpreting technical analyses a full consideration of the socio-economic niche occupied by the glass industry is urged.

The raw materials of early glass production

The chemical analysis of excavated glass fragments from dated archaeological contexts in Raqqa, Syria, has provided a detailed picture of the chemical compositions of artefacts deriving from eighth to ninth and 11th century glassmaking and glassworking activities. Evidence for primary glass production has been found at three excavated sites, of eighth to ninth, 11th and 12th century dates; the first two are discussed here. The 2 km long industrial complex at al-Raqqa was associated with an urban landscape consisting of two Islamic cities (al-Raqqa and al-Rafika) and a series of palace complexes. The glass fused and worked there was presumably for local as well as for regional consumption.

Al-Raqqa currently appears to have produced the earliest well-dated production on record in the Middle East of an Islamic high-magnesia glass based on an alkaline plant ash flux and quartz. An eighth to ninth century late ‘Roman’/Byzantine soda–lime recipe of natron and sand begins to be replaced in the eighth to ninth century by a plant ash – quartz Islamic soda–lime composition. By the 11th century, this process was nearly complete. The early Islamic natron glass compositional group from al-Raqqa shows very little spread in values, indicating a repeatedly well-controlled process with the use of chemically homogeneous raw materials.

A compositionally more diffuse range of eighth to ninth century plant ash glass compositions have been identified. One is not only distinct from established groups of plant ash and natron glasses, but is believed to be the result of experimentation with new raw material combinations. Compositional analysis of primary production waste including furnace glass (raw glass adhering to furnace brick) shows that contemporary glasses of three distinct plant ash types based on various combinations of plant ash, quartz and sand were being made in al-Raqqa during the late eighth to ninth centuries. This is a uniquely wide compositional range from an ancient glass production site, offering new insights into the complexity of Islamic glass technology at a time of change and innovation.

Radical changes in islamic glass technology: evidence for conservatism and experimentation with new glass recipes from early and middle islamic raqqa, syria *

A review of the post-glacial geology and geomorphology of the Severn Estuary provides a context for the description and evaluation of eight sites on the margins of the Severn upstream of the Rivers Avon and Wye where Romano-British occupation debris has been recovered. This evidence provides further confirmation of the extent of the reclamation and settlement of the wetlands of the Severn during the Roman period. In addition, all sites produced clear evidence of ironmaking, employing Forest of Dean ore, and one site produced indications of glassworking. In conjunction with a comparative study of the pottery assemblages from riverside and inland sites, the role of the river as a trade route is reviewed.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003581500025415

Romano-British Settlement and Industry on the Wetlands of the Severn Estuary

X-rays were discovered by Röntgen in 1878 and were first considered to be a mysterious type of radiation with properties very different from electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet, visual and infrared range of the spectrum: Röntgen’s first experiments suggested that X-rays could not be reflected, refracted or polarized but instead penetrated fairly deeply into materials, apparently without causing harm or other (permanent) changes. Although it is now well documented that X-rays exhibit analogous characteristics to the radiation of longer wavelengths and that high doses of this type of radiation on (biological) tissues can effectively induce discolourations and other damages, irradiation of inorganic materials with X-rays is generally considered not to cause them any harm. Thus, next to being used for radiographic purposes (see Chapter 2), X-rays are also frequently employed for compositional and structural analysis of cultural heritage (and many other) materials. A well-established method of quantitative element analysis is X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, which is based on the ionization of the atoms of the material being investigated by an energetic beam of primary X-rays. The characteristic radiation that is emitted by the ionized atoms upon relaxation contains information on the nature and the abundance of the elemental constituents present. Since XRF meets a number of the requirements of the “ideal method” for non-destructive analysis of cultural heritage materials (see Chapter 1) [1], analysis of objects of artistic and/or archaeological value with conventional XRF is fairly common; it is in fact one of the most often applied methods for obtaining qualitative and semi-quantitative information on the materials these objects are made of [2]. Several textbooks cover the fundamental and methodological aspects of the method and its many variants [3]. In the

X-ray based methods of analysis

The glass of the “Casa delle Bestie Ferite”: a first systematic archaeometric study on Late Roman vessels from Aquileia

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of 1st millennium ad glass from Britain

The TL properties of archaeological glass

A multivariate approach based on correlations between major elements in data from archaeological glass has been used to clarify differences between glasses made with fundamentally different alkaline materials. Classification based on principal components analysis is in broad agreement with results of hierarchical cluster analysis. F-ratios show that this approach offers significant advantages over the alternatives of treating each element separately or using triangular diagrams of network formers, fluxes and modifiers. The presence of transitional compositions can be inferred.

Major element glass type specification for roman, post-roman and mediaeval glasses

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Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of 1st millennium ad glass from Britain

The TL properties of archaeological glass

Major element glass type specification for roman, post-roman and mediaeval glasses