Chemical Analysis Suggesting Origin of Raw Materials and Possible Recycling of Late Antique Roman Glass from Vasileos Irakleiou Street 45, Thessaloniki in Northern Greece
Source abstract
Abstract
During antiquity, it is known that glass was produced in specialized primary workshops in Levant and Egypt, and this glass was melted and formed into objects in secondary workshops, and distributed in most cities and towns of the Roman Empire. Great efforts, although it is difficult, have been made to distinguish where it was produced. In this study, we perform chemical analysis on 48 glass samples (22 moils and 26 glass artefacts) dated to the 6th century CE from Vasileos Irakleiou Street, 45, Thessaloniki in northern Greece by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy–Dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX). All glasses were produced with natron as a flux and based on the sodium oxide content we divided them into two groups. Most of the glasses’ chemical analysis indicates that they originated from Egypt, and can be categorized as HIMT and others as Roman Mn or Roman Mn-Sb. MnO is the main decolorizer, while in some samples MnO coexists with Sb2O3. Finally, recycling processes are evident in most of the samples.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Building materials and conservation · Conservation Techniques and Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Unit, Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National Center for Scientific Research (N.C.S.R.) “Demokritos”, Patriarchou Gregoriou (End) and Neapoleos Street, Ag. Paraskevi, 15341 Attiki, Greece
Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zographou Campus, 15784 Athens, Greece
Museum of Byzantine Culture, 54640 Thessaloniki, Greece
Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, Via Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy
References (51)
Show source-provided references
1. Davison, S., and Newton, R.G. (2008). Conservation and Restoration of Glass, Routledge.10.4324/9780080569314 ↗
2. Compositional categories of ancient glass10.1126/science.133.3467.1824 ↗
3. The raw materials of early glass production10.1111/j.1468-0092.1985.tb00248.x ↗
4. Islamic glass weights and stamps: Analysis using nuclear techniques10.1111/j.1475-4754.1990.tb00462.x ↗
5. Chemical composition of medieval glass from excavations in West Germany
6. Chemical analysis of ‘raw’glass fragments
7. Schibille, N., Meek, A., Tobias, B., Entwistle, C., Avisseau-Broustet, M., Da Mota, H., and Gratuze, B. (2016). Comprehensive chemical characterisation of Byzantine glass weights. PLoS ONE, 11.10.1371/journal.pone.0168289 ↗
8. Freestone, I., Wolf, S., and Thirlwall, M. (2003, January 7–13). The production of HIMT glass: Elemental and isotopic evidence. Proceedings of the Annales du 16e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre: London 2003, London, UK.
9. Foy, D., Picon, M., Vichy, M., and Thirion-Merle, V. (2003). Caractérisation des verres de la fin de l’Antiquité en Méditerranée occidentale: L’émergence de nouveaux courants commerciaux. Échanges et Commerce du Verre dans le Monde Antique, Monique Mergoil Montagnac.
10. Glass groups, glass supply and recycling in late Roman Carthage10.1007/s12520-016-0316-1 ↗
11. Evidence of early medieval soda ash glass in the archaeological site of San Genesio (Tuscany)10.1016/j.jas.2011.12.031 ↗
12. Freestone, I.C., Greenwood, R., and Gorin-Rosen, Y. (2001, January 15). Byzantine and early Islamic glassmaking in the Eastern Mediterranean: Production and distribution of primary glass. Proceedings of the Hyalos-Vitrum-Glass: Proceedings of the First Hellenic Glass Conference, Rodos, Greece.
13. Primary glass from Israel and the production of glass in late antiquity and the early Islamic period
14. The origins of Byzantine glass from Maroni Petrera, Cyprus10.1111/1475-4754.t01-1-00058 ↗
15. Strontium isotopes in the investigation of early glass production: Byzantine and early Islamic glass from the Near East10.1111/1475-4754.00094 ↗
16. Raw glass and the production of glass vessels at late Byzantine Apollonia-Arsuf, Israel
17. Brill, R.H. (1988). Scientific investigations of the Jalame glass and related finds. Excavations at Jalame: Site of a Glass Factory in Late Roman Palestine, University of Missouri Press.
18. Picon, M., and Vichy, M. (2003). D’Orient en Occident: L’origine du verre à l’époque romaine et durant le haut Moyen Âge. Échanges et Commerce du Verre Dans le Monde Antique, Monique Mergoil Montagnac.
19. The ancient glass industry in Israel: Summary of the finds and new discoveries
20. L’atelier de verrier de Lyon, du Ier siècle apr. J.-C, et l’origine des verres «romains»10.3406/arsci.1997.949 ↗
21. La route du verre: Ateliers primaires et secondaires du second millénaire av. J.-C. au Moyen Âge
22. The fingerprint of Greek raw materials in the composition of ancient glasses with “unexpected” isotopic compositions
23. Chemical and oxygen isotopic composition of roman and late antique glass from northern greece10.1155/2017/2956075 ↗
24. Foy, D., Vichy, M., and Picon, M. (November, January 28). Lingots de verre en Méditerranée (IIIe s. av. J.-C.- VIIe s. ap. J.-C.), approvisionnement et mise en oeuvre; les données archéologiques et les données de laboratoire. Proceedings of the Annales du 14eme Congres de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, AIHV, Venise-Milan, Lochem, The Netherlands.
25. The composition of ‘naturally coloured’late Roman vessel glass from Britain and the implications for models of glass production and supply10.1016/j.jas.2008.08.008 ↗
26. Antonaras, C. (2011, January 16–19). Glass working in Roman and early Christian Thessaloniki: Older and more recent finds. Proceedings of the History, Technology and Conservation of Ancient Metals Glasses and Enamels International Symposium, Athens, Greece.
27. A natron source at Pikrolimni Lake in Greece? Geochemical evidence10.1016/j.gexplo.2009.08.003 ↗
28. Isotope composition of Medieval lead glasses reflecting early silver production in Central Europe10.1007/s001260050094 ↗
29. Change in silica sources in Roman and post-Roman glass10.1016/S0584-8547(02)00287-2 ↗
30. The use of oxygen, strontium and lead isotopes to provenance ancient glasses in the Middle East10.1016/j.jas.2004.05.008 ↗
31. Roman and medieval glass from the Italian area: Bulk characterization and relationships with production technologies10.1111/j.1475-4754.2005.00233.x ↗
32. Geochemistry of Byzantine and early Islamic glass from Jerash, Jordan: Typology, recycling, and provenance10.1002/gea.21684 ↗
33. Analytical and technological study of Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic (Umayyad) glasses from Al-Fudein archaeological site, Jordan
34. The transition from Roman to Late Antique glass: New insights from the Domus of Tito Macro in Aquileia (Italy)10.1016/j.jas.2016.07.002 ↗
35. Butrint (Albania) between eastern and western Mediterranean glass production: EMPA and LA-ICP-MS of late antique and early medieval finds10.1016/j.jas.2014.04.014 ↗
36. Keller, D., Price, J., and Jackson, C. (2014). An early Christian glass workshop at 45, Vasileos Irakleiou Street in the centre of Thessaloniki. Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of Glass Production and Use in Europe and the Middle East in the Later First Millennium AD, Oxbow Books.10.2307/j.ctvh1dq24 ↗
37. Roman, C.-A., and Gudea, N. (2008). Glass lamps of the Roman and Early Christian periods. Evidence from the Thessaloniki area. Lychnological Acts 2. Acts of the 2nd International Congress on Ancient and Middle Age Lighting Devices (Zalau –Cluj-Napoka, 13th–18th of May 2006). Trade and Local Production of Lamps from the Prehistory until the Middle Age, Mega.
38. Stemmed beakers with stamped bases from an Early Christian glass workshop at the center of Thessaloniki
39. Martiniani-Reber, M., Rey, A.L., Lini, G., and Liaudet, N. (2022). Emulation of Luxury in Glass. Autour des Métiers du Luxe à Byzance, The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture.
40. Lilyquist, C., Brill, R.H., Brill, R.H., and Wypyski, M.T. (1993). Studies in Early Egyptian Glass, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
41. Rosenow, M., Phelps, A., Meek, I.C., and Freestone (2018). HIMT, glass composition and commodity branding in the primary glass industry. Things That Travelled: Mediterranean Glass in the First Millennium CE, UCL Press.10.2307/j.ctt21c4tb3 ↗
42. Glass production in the first millennium CE: A compositional perspective
43. Re-used Roman rubbish: A thousand years of recycling glass
44. Making colourless glass in the Roman period10.1111/j.1475-4754.2005.00231.x ↗
45. Glass, C.M.o., and Brill, R.M. (1999). Chemical Analysis of Early Glasses: The Catalogue, Corning Museum of Glass.
46. A great big melting pot: Exploring patterns of glass supply, consumption and recycling in Roman Coppergate, York10.1111/arcm.12158 ↗
47. Matson, F.R., and Rindone, G.E. (1963). The intentional use of antimony and manganese in ancient glasses. Advances in glass technology: History papers and discussions of the technical papers, Plenum Press.
48. The coloured glass of Iulia Felix10.1016/j.jas.2007.10.014 ↗
49. Changes in glass consumption in Pergamon (Turkey) from Hellenistic to late Byzantine and Islamic times10.1016/j.jas.2014.12.025 ↗
50. Rehren, T., Marii, F., Schibille, N., Stanford, L., and Swan, C. (2010). Glass supply and circulation in early Byzantine southern Jordan. Glass in Byzantium e Production, Usage, Analyses, RGZM.
51. Glass production at an early Islamic workshop in Tel Aviv10.1016/j.jas.2015.07.003 ↗