Session: #173

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
5. Theories and methods in archaeology: interactions between disciplines
Session format:
Regular session

Title & Content

Title:
Archaeology and Archaeometry of Glass, 6th to 13th Centuries CE: Possibilities of Archaeological and Historical Interpretation of Major Chemical Types
Content:
The 6th–13th centuries is a period of fundamental political, economic and cultural changes, which also affected glass production and influenced the distribution of glass and glass artefacts. Archaeometric research increasingly brings new and detailed data for the history of glass and shows a wider range of chemical types of glass compared to prehistoric times, based on wider sources of raw materials. These include soda-lime natron and plant-ash glass, mixed alkali glass, lead glass (high-lead, soda-lead, wood-ash-lead) and wood-ash/potassium glass. The first wood-ash/potassium glass started to be produced in the Carolingian Empire at the end of the 8th century, and this led to the growing independence of glass production in NW Europe. The questions the session would like to address include, but are not limited to: What do analysis results tell us about the spread of wood-ash/potassium glass across Europe? What role did Eastern, Central and Western Europe play in the production and use of lead glass? How do archaeometric analysis results impact upon our knowledge of production technologies and techniques? What do they reveal about interregional and long-distance contacts as shown by glass and glass artefacts? Another important topic for discussion is continuity and discontinuity in the use of chemical glass types in relation to types of glass objects.
Keywords:
archaeology, archaeometry, glass, Middle Ages, chemical types
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:

Organisers

Main organiser:
Katerina Tomková (Czech Republic) 1
Co-organisers:
Hajnalka Herold (United Kingdom) 2
Sylwia Siemianowska (Poland) 3
Affiliations:
1. Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
2. University of Exeter
3. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław