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Twenty‐two objects of glass from the Decapolis city of Gerasa, N. Jordan, with characteristic vessel forms ranging from Hellenistic to Early Islamic (2nd century BCE to 8th century CE) were analyzed for major and trace elements, and 16 samples for Sr‐isotopes. The majority were produced in the vicinity of Apollonia on the Palestine coast in the 6th–7th centuries CE, and strong inter‐element correlations for Fe, Ti, Mn, Mg, Nb reflect local variations in the accessory minerals in the Apollonia glassmaking sand. The ubiquity of recycling is reflected in elevated concentrations and high coefficients of variation of colorant‐related elements as well as a strong positive correlation between K and P. The high level of K contamination is attributed to the use of pomace (olive processing residue) as fuel, and a negative correlation with Cl, due to volatilization as the glass was reheated. This points to an efficient system for the collection of glass for recycling in Jerash during the latter part of the first millennium CE. Differences in elemental behavior at different sites in the Levant may reflect the context of the recycling system, for example, glass from secular contexts may contain less colorants derived from mosaics than glass associated with churches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the Byzantine glass tesserae from Hierapolis (Phrygia, central Turkey). Fifty-seven samples of loose tesserae from two sites in the town (the theatre and the church of St. Philip) are analysed by particule-induced X-ray emission and particule-induced gamma ray emission and electron probe X-ray microanalysis to obtain the chemical composition and identify the colourants and opacifiers. The aims are to add new information to the scant knowledge of the Byzantine glassmaking technology, to constrain the chronology of the mosaics and to trace the supply routes of the tesserae. In the destruction layers of the theatre, tesserae produced following the Roman glassmaking technology (natron glass opacified by calcium and lead antimonate) were found. They were made using a Levantine 1 raw glass, generally attributed to the early Byzantine period (fifth to sixth c.). In the church, the samples attest a technological change from Roman tradition, and a complex pattern according to building history (two phases are attested, probably in the sixth and eighth to ninth c.), and a multiplicity of supply. Three glass types and some recipes not attested before in this chronological range for the production of tesserae are documented, such as the use of a local low-chlorine natron glass for the production of black and red tesserae, the blue colouring by a source of cobalt with zinc in a natron glass tessera and the opacification with tin oxide (both in a lead-free and in a high-lead natron glass), as well as with quartz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr, Zr, Sn, Sb and Pb in 40 archaeological glasses from the Early Byzantine Jelica site in Serbia, are determined by PIXE/PIGE. Geochemical and multivariate analysis shows it corresponds to Foy series 2.1 and 3.2. Regionally, it is similar to the contemporary 6th century composition from Lower Danube (Bulgaria), Caričin Grad (Serbia) and Butrint (Albania). The results indicate that trade routes between these inland regions and the rest of the Empire were mostly open even during turbulent times of the 6th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty three glass bracelets fragments of different colors and appearances excavated at Păcuiul lui Soare, Dobrogea, Romania and dated to the 10th–11th century AD were analyzed for their chemical composition using Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Particle-Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE) techniques at AGLAE accelerator of Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Paris. Analytical data showed that all bracelets are soda-lime-silica glass of intermediate recipes, with compositional patterns between the natron and plant ash ranges, indicating practices of extensive glass recycling. Păcuiul lui Soare glass bracelets turned out to be similar in composition with the ones found in other nearby coeval sites, but also with bangles discovered in more remote Byzantine sites. The analyses revealed that the same technological choices have been made to produce the bracelets, namely they have been produced in workshops that had access to vitreous artefacts of different compositions, i.e. produced using distinct types of fluxes. Recycling seem to be a characteristics for all glass bangles produced in the Byzantine Empire at the end of the first millennium AD, regardless of their finding place and dating. As concerning the glass color, blue hues in Păcuiul lui Soare were induced by the presence of small amounts of cobalt (hundreds of ppm), while the green and black colors were correlated to high concentrations of iron. Opaque red glass stripes turned out to be rich in copper. The most likely candidate for the pale yellow pigment decorating the outer surfaces of several bracelets was identified as lead tin yellow. Producing these bangles by apparently indiscriminate procedures of glass re-melting involves a certain degree of ease and this might explain the discovery of such an outstanding number of glass bracelets in all the Byzantine sites from the Lower Danube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the glass finds from the Byzantine Monastery in Nahal Qidron, in Jerusalem, Israel, which is believed to be associated with the late Byzantine Umayyad periods originating in Christian ecclesiastical complexes. The assemblage comprises of small glass fragments representing various types of vessels and windowpanes from the Late Roman-early Byzantine periods.

The article discusses the discovery of ancient manufacturing complex in Yafo, Israel. It highlights the retrieval of glassware at an excavation site located at the Jerusalem Boulevard in Yafo proving that glass production already existed from the late tenth and early eleventh centuries or even earlier wherein additional findings reveal that other glass objects excavated even existed to as early as the Byzantine period.

The article discusses the discovery of archaeological glass fragments in Moshav Ha-Bonim, Israel. It offers an overview of the uncovering of artifacts like bowls, juglets and bottle made from glass in an excavation site in the said region which dates back during the Late Roman and early Byzantine periods.

Roman and Byzantine glass shards collected during excavation campaigns around the ancient city of Thugga in northern Tunisia have been characterised by means of various analytical techniques. Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) was used to determine the glass matrix elemental composition and to identify the elements responsible for the colour. Fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) was employed to investigate the chemical nature, the oxidation state and the coordination of the chromophores. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was here exploited for characterising the outermost layers of the glasses. Elemental analyses by pXRF pointed out that Si, Fe, Al, Ca, K, Rb, Sr, Na and Mg are the main elements present in the glasses. The chromophores responsible for the different shades are Fe for the green shades, Cu and Co for the blue ones, Mn, also used as discolouring agent, for the colourless samples. In relation to the raw materials used for glass production, the comparison with control groups of samples from Northern Tunisia suggests a common provenance of sands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that Iznik glazes are characterized by low potash and magnesia contents. It was therefore suggested that the flux used was either a purified plant ash or some unidentified mineral source of soda. More recently, as a result of the detection of small, but significant, amounts of boron and lithium in Byzantine glasses from western Turkey, which also exhibit low potash and magnesia contents, it has been suggested that the source of the flux used was a soda-rich evaporite associated in some way with the extensive borax deposits in the region. LA-ICP-MS has been used to establish that Iznik glazes also contain similarly small amounts of boron and lithium. The Na/K, Na/Mg, Na/Ca and Na/B ratios for these Iznik glazes are shown to be comparable to the equivalent ratios calculated from published data for waters from a range of Na-HCO3 type hot springs in western Turkey, with the closest match being to the hot springs around Afyon- Gazligöl, which is consistent with documentary evidence. It is therefore proposed that the soda-rich salts produced by evaporating water from these springs to dryness would have provided the flux required for the production of Iznik glazes and high-boron Byzantine glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The chemical composition of twenty glass bracelet fragments found in Nufăru, a Byzantine site from 10th–13th centuries A.D., nowadays located on Romania's territory, has been determined using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE) in external beam mode. Most of the Byzantine bracelet fragments were identified as “mixed natron-plant ash” soda-lime-silica glasses. The obtained chemical compositions indicated that the manufacturing of these finery items was performed using similar raw materials and techniques, in most of the cases involving colored glass recycling. PIXE–PIGE results highlighted the glass chromophores (cobalt, manganese, copper and iron ions) and provided hints about the mineral pigments used to paint the external surface of some bracelets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The chemical characterisation of archaeological glass allows the discrimination between different glass groups and the identification of raw materials and technological traditions of their production. Several lines of evidence point towards the large-scale production of first millennium CE glass in a limited number of glass making factories from a mixture of Egyptian mineral soda and a locally available silica source. Fundamental changes in the manufacturing processes occurred from the eight/ninth century CE onwards, when Egyptian mineral soda was gradually replaced by soda-rich plant ash in Egypt as well as the Islamic Middle East. In order to elucidate the supply and consumption of glass during this transitional period, 31 glass samples from the assemblage found at Pergamon (Turkey) that date to the fourth to fourteenth centuries CE were analysed by electron microprobe analysis (EPMA) and by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The statistical evaluation of the data revealed that the Byzantine glasses from Pergamon represent at least three different glass production technologies, one of which had not previously been recognised in the glass making traditions of the Mediterranean. While the chemical characteristics of the late antique and early medieval fragments confirm the current model of glass production and distribution at the time, the elemental make-up of the majority of the eighth- to fourteenthcentury glasses from Pergamon indicate the existence of a late Byzantine glass type that is characterised by high alumina levels. Judging from the trace element patterns and elevated boron and lithium concentrations, these glasses were produced with a mineral soda different to the Egyptian natron from the Wadi Natrun, suggesting a possible regional Byzantine primary glass production in Asia Minor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The finding of considerable collections of glass artefacts, together with considerable lumps of glass chunks, fuel ash slag and kiln fragments related to glass processing strongly suggests a local secondary production (working) of glass at the Beit Ras/Capitolias archaeological site in northern Jordan from the late Roman to the early Byzantine period. The chemical analysis of ancient glasses can provide important information regarding the manufacturing technology of the glass made during a specific period. The aim of this study is to characterise the chemical and technological aspects of late Roman to early Byzantine glasses excavated from this main archaeological site. Furthermore, the present paper aims to provide incontrovertible evidence that this site must be considered as a major centre for the secondary production of glass during a period between the 3rd and the 6th centuries. For this purpose, a considerable group of raw glass chunks and vessel fragments of different colours and typologies were collected. The results of chemical analyses indicated that the glass did not show a clear difference in chemical composition between late Roman and early Byzantine times. All the glasses (artefacts and chunks) are of the soda-lime-silica type and correspond to the previously defined Levantine I glass group. The chemical composition of the glass chunks, identical to that of contemporary glass of the same colour, strongly suggests that these chunks were used for the manufacture of late Roman to early Byzantine glass at Beit Ras. The observation of technological features indicates that glass chunks were produced in massive tank furnaces in other primary production centres elsewhere, and were meant for local reworking. According to the microscopic examination, it can also be observed that mould-blowing was the main technique used for forming glass. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A series of early Byzantine glasses, recovered in Ganzirri (Sicily, Italy), was analysed for major, minor and trace elements. All the analysed fragments were found to be natron-based silica–lime glass. Concerning minor and trace elements, the samples can be divided into two groups: glass with high Fe, Ti and Mn contents ( HIMT glass) and glass with low levels of Fe, Ti and Mn. These results, strictly in agreement with literature data for glass of the Mediterranean region, can be interpreted as a consequence of the wide trade network established in this region and of the intense circulation of raw glass and artefacts from different Mediterranean areas. X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies at Fe and Mn K-edges, performed on HIMT glass, indicate that Fe is in the oxidized form while Mn is in the reduced form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The affiliation of the first author was incorrectly published in the original article. The author’s correct affiliation is given in this correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]