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Written sources indicate that Alexandria in Egypt was a leading producer of Roman glass. Furthermore, archaeological finds have provided evidence for the local production of drawn glass and gold‐in‐glass beads, which were distributed throughout the world. In this study, we present an analysis of the chemical composition of more than two hundred glass objects from the Roman (2nd–3rd/4th century ce) and Late Antique (4th/5th–7th century ce) glass bead workshops located at Kom el‐Dikka in Alexandria. This study is based on the results of portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses carried out on raw glass, bead semi‐products, products and waste from both periods. Additionally, the glass chemistry of some Islamic (8th–12th century ce) beads found at the site has been analysed.Despite the limitations of the method, the vast majority of samples exhibited compositions confirming their general dating and Egyptian origin. Remarkably, a single bead was made of high‐alumina glass and appeared to be an import from India, possibly a remnant of the Indo‐Pacific glass bead route that connected Red Sea ports and Europe in Late Antiquity. In addition, we offer a new analytical approach to the method that has potential to enhance the value of pXRF in the analysis of archaeological glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next to pottery, items of adornment comprise the most abundant material excavated in Northeast Africa, often being the only evidence for long-distance interactions. Interdisciplinary research has been developed to demonstrate that beads, particularly those of Indian origin from port sites on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, may attest to intense relations between North Africa and Asia. Parallels and provenance examination of recent bead and jewellery finds (four silver and coral earrings, eight silver rings and about eleven ivory bangles) from two Late Antiquity tombs of the fourth/fifth centuries AD at Berenike also suggest links between the Red Sea coast and the Nubian Nile Valley. Additionally, these ornaments raise questions as to their function in multiple burials. It is not possible to determine whether they were used as part of the funerary ritual or as offerings to the individuals buried, but several observations can be offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations at Soba, the capital of Alwa, between 2019 and 2022 yielded more than 30 glass fragments in addition to a glass cosmetic bottle. An analysis of 30 glass samples has identified glass belonging to a number of compositional groups. The majority of fragments were made of plant ash‐soda glass produced in the Middle East (Iran, Iraq) between the 9th and 10th centuries, and in the Eastern Mediterranean (Levant and Egypt) between the mid‐10th and mid‐12th centuries. Seven fragments were made of mineral–soda‐lime glass produced in 9th‐century Egypt and three high‐lead glasses find analogies in the 9th‐ to 11th‐century glass. Archeological evidence, as well as textual sources, leave no doubt about Alwa's intense transcultural connections. This article provides the first insight into the chemistry of glass shards from medieval Nubia, and the results of analysis contribute to evidence for long‐distance contacts of Soba, the capital of one of the medieval kingdoms of Sahelian Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International expeditions extensively excavated Lower Nubia (between the First and Second Nile Cataracts) before it was submerged under the waters of Lake Nasser and Lake Nubia. The expeditions concentrated on monumental architecture and cemeteries, including sites at Qustul and Serra East, where the New Kingdom, and Napatan, Meroitic, Nobadian, and Makurian-period elites and common people were buried, ca. 1400 BC–AD 1400. Although the finds abound in adornments, including bead imports from Egypt and South India/Sri Lanka, only a few traces of local glass bead-making have been recorded in Nubia so far. Based on results of laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of 76 glass beads, pendants, and chunks from Qustul and Serra East contexts, dated between the New Kingdom and the Makuria Kingdom periods, this paper discusses the composition and provenance of two types of plant-ash soda-lime (v-Na-Ca) glass, two types of mineral soda-lime glass (m-Na-Ca), and two types of mineral-soda-high alumina (m-Na-Al) glass. It also presents the remains of a probable local glass bead-making workshop dated to the period of intensive long-distance bead trade in Northeast Africa, AD 400–600. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian Nubia was a region with intensive transcultural connections that are visible through the understudied overseas glass bead imports found there. This paper presents the results of an analysis of 20 glass beads from Banganarti, a Christian pilgrim site active during the Makuria kingdom (mid‐sixth to 14th centuries CE). Compositional analyses using laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) have identified glass belonging to a number of broad compositional groups. Two beads were made of mineral soda‐lime glass, dated before the mid‐ninth century CE. Numerous beads were made from plant ash‐soda‐lime glass associated with "Mesopotamian" production dated between the eighth and 10th centuries CE. Lead‐soda‐silica glass has parallels in the ninth–10th centuries glass found in Africa and Europe. One plant ash‐soda‐lime bead was of eastern Mediterranean origin dated after the 10th century CE. Results of this study provide new evidence for provenance and chronology of glass beads available in the mediaeval Northeast Africa as well as contribute new data to the research on the pilgrim and/or trade routes of that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]