Glass Making in the Greco-Roman World

New insights into the trade and processing of mineral raw materials for glass making This book presents a reconstruction of the Hellenistic-Roman glass industry from the point of view of raw material procurement. Within the ERC funded ARCHGLASS project, the authors of this work developed new geochemical techniques to provenance primary glass making. They investigated both production and consumer sites of glass, and identified suitable mineral resources for glass making through geological prospecting. Because the source of the raw materials used in the manufacturing of natron glass can be determined, new insights in the trade of this material are revealed. While eastern Mediterranean glass factories were active throughout the Hellenistic to early Islamic period, western Mediterranean and possibly Italian and North African sources also supplied the Mediterranean world with raw glass in early Roman times. By combining archaeological and scientific data, the authors develop new interdisciplinary techniques for an innovative archaeological interpretation of glass trade in the Hellenistic-Roman world, highlighting the development of glass as an economic material.

Ebook available in Open Access.
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Contributors Annelore Blomme (KU Leuven), Sara Boyen (KU Leuven), Dieter Brems (KU Leuven), Florence Cattin (Université de Bourgogne), Mike Carremans (KU Leuven), Veerle Devulder (KU Leuven, UGent), Thomas Fenn (Yale University), Monica Ganio (Northwestern University), Johan Honings (KU Leuven), Rebecca Scott (KU Leuven)

List of Illustrations List of Tables
Chapter 1 The archaeology and archaeometry of natron glass making R.B. Scott, P. Degryse
Chapter 2 Western Mediterranean sands for ancient glass making D. Brems, P. Degryse
Chapter 3 The Sr-Nd isotopic fi ngerprint of sand raw materials D. Brems, M. Ganio, P. Degryse
Chapter 4 Trace elements in sand raw materials D. Brems, P. Degryse
Chapter 5 The Sources of Natron V. Devulder, P. Degryse
Chapter 6 Primary glass factories around the Mediterranean P. Degryse, M. Ganio, S. Boyen, A. Blomme, B. Scott, D. Brems, M. Carremans, J. Honings, T. Fenn, F. Cattin
Chapter 7 Conclusions P. Degryse Appendix A Sampling locations, elemental compositions of the analysed sand samples as determined by ICP-;OES analysis, LOI results, results of the Sr and Nd isotopic analysis and trace element analysis results.
Appendix B Calculated glass compositions after raising the Na2O levels of the sands to 16.63%, the average Na2O content of Roman natron glass (Foster and Jackson, 2009).
Appendix C Calculated glass compositions after raising the CaO levels of the sands containing insuffi cient lime to 7.48%, the average CaO content of Roman natron glass (Foster and Jackson, 2009).
Appendix D http://ees.kuleuven.be/geology/archaeometry/index.html References

Patrick Degryse

Patrick Degryse is Professor of Archaeometry at KU Leuven, studying the history and use of mineral resources in ancient technology.