The composition of late Romano-British colourless vessel glass: glass production and consumption

One hundred and twenty-eight colourless glass tablewares from settlement contexts throughout the British Isles, dating from the mid-3rd to 4th century AD, were analysed by ICP-AES spectrometry. Three distinct compositional groups were identified based upon the use of different decolourisers and primary raw materials, with possible sub-groups within these. These compositions have distinct, but overlapping chronological ranges, suggesting colourless glass production in at least three, possibly more, centres in the late Roman period. The compositional analysis highlights the high degree to which recycling of glass was taking place during this late period. The chronological distribution of some of these compositions is more restricted within the British assemblages than is observed in other published assemblages from Western Europe. This distinction may indicate different supply patterns of glass to the Western provinces.     

Differentiation of ceramic chemical element composition and vessel morphology at a pottery production center in Roman Galilee

Cooking pots and bowls from two production locations ca. 200 m from each other at the rural settlement of Kefar Hananya in Roman Galilee were compared employing chemical element composition and vessel-shape analyses. Splits of each pulverized sample, all of which were taken from ceramic wasters, were analyzed by both instrumental neutron activation and high-precision X-ray fluorescence analyses, and computerized vessel-shape analysis was employed for morphological analysis of the same vessel forms from each location. Several statistical techniques (bivariate plots, principal component analysis, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis) were used for analyzing the resultant data. It was found that both the cooking pots and bowls made at each location could be distinguished by employing either chemical composition or morphological analysis. The implications of this work, with regard to investigating both production and consumption sites, and for pottery provenance studies, are discussed. The findings suggest that these analytical techniques can be useful as an aid for chronological differentiations of archaeological pottery.     

Chemical characterisation and manufacturing technology of late Roman to early Byzantine glass from Beit Ras/Capitolias,Northern Jordan

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.     

The composition of the soda-rich and mixed alkali plant ashes used in the production of glass

Soda-rich plant ashes have been used in the Near East and Egypt in the production of glass and faience from the 4th millennium BC onwards, and mixed alkali plant ashes have been similarly used in western Europe during the 2nd and first half of the 1st millennia BC. In the production of these ashes, the plants of interest are salt resistant, halophytic plants of the Chenopodiaceae family, growing in coastal, salt marsh and desert regions. A primary criterion in selecting ashes for glass and faience production is that the alkalis are predominantly in the form of carbonates, bicarbonates and hydroxides rather than either chlorides or sulphates. In the current paper, previously published data for such ashes are brought together and re-assessed, and new analytical data are presented for ashes produced from plants collected in Egypt, Greece and the UK. For the ashes produced from Salsola kali plants collected from Greece and the UK, the soda to potash ratios (0.3–1.8) do not show any systematic differences between the regions in which the plant was growing, but instead reflect the fact that this species favours the accumulation of K⁺ over Na⁺ ions. Further, the results suggest that S. kali could have been the source of the mixed alkali ashes used in western Europe, if the ashes had first been treated in some way in order to reduce their lime-plus-magnesia contents.     

Optical spectroscopy as a rapid and low-cost tool for the first-line analysis of glass artefacts: a step-by-step plan for Roman green glass

Archaeometric research on glass artefacts is continuously evolving and is converging towards a multidisciplinary research domain where different types of techniques are applied depending on the questions asked and the circumstances involved. The technique described in this work is optical spectroscopy. The benefit of this technique being the possibility of building up a knowledge database for a large amount of material in a relatively short period of time and with a relatively limited budget. This is of particular interest for the investigation of extensive and/or unexplored glass collections where a first-line analysis of artefacts could facilitate the selection of material needing further and more detailed examination.     

The development of the longbow in late medieval England and ‘technological determinism’

Traditional understandings of the development of the medieval English longbow and its role in the fourteenth-century ‘infantry revolution’ have recently been challenged by historians. This article responds to the revisionists, arguing based on archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence that the proper longbow was a weapon of extraordinary power, and was qualitatively different from – and more effective than – the shorter self-bows that were the norm in England (and western Europe generally) before the fourteenth century. It is further argued that acknowledging the importance of the weapon as a necessary element of any credible explanation of English military successes in the era of the Hundred Years War does not constitute ‘technological determinism’.     

Evidence for glass ‘recycling’ using Pb and Sr isotopic ratios and Sr-mixing lines: the case of early Byzantine Sagalassos

The secondary production (working) of glass from imperial to early Byzantine times has been proven at the ancient city of Sagalassos (SW Turkey) by the existence of glass chunks, fuel ash slag and kiln fragments related to glass processing. It had been previously suggested that local green glass might have been recycled from two other locally found glass types (blue glass vessels and chunks and HIMT glass chunks). This paper provides analytical evidence for the recycling of glass next to the use of imported raw glass. The heterogeneous lead isotopic composition of the green and HIMT vessel glass at Sagalassos, with as end members on the one hand the isotopic composition of local blue glass vessels and chunks and on the other hand that of the HIMT glass chunks, could indicate the production of ‘recycled’ glass, although heterogeneous raw materials could have been used. However, the use of Sr-mixing lines confirms local recycling. It is clear that the Sr in the green and HIMT vessels is a mixture of the Sr in the aforementioned end members. It cannot be proved whether the green ‘recycled’ glass was produced from a mixture of chunks alone, or from a mixture of cullet and chunks. Suggestions are made towards the possible origin of the raw materials for the blue and HIMT glass on the basis of Sr isotopic signatures and absolute Sr contents in the glass.     

Comment on ‘A Bayesian approach to ageing perinatal skeletal material from archaeological sites: implications for the evidence for infanticide in Roman Britain’ by R.L. Gowland and A.T. Chamberlain

In 1993, I published a paper noting that the age distribution of perinatal infants for some Romano-British sites did not conform to a natural mortality pattern but rather showed a pronounced peak at a gestational age corresponding approximately to a full term infant. I interpreted this as suggestive of infanticide, given that the deed is generally carried out immediately after birth. Gowland and Chamberlain have recently published in this journal (J. Archaeol. Sci. 29 (2002) 677) a reconsideration of the problem of Roman infanticide in which they suggest that the peak I observed in the Romano-British perinatal age at death distribution may have been an artefact of the particular ageing technique I used, and they hence call into question the evidence for Roman infanticide. In this comment I argue that their work is seriously flawed and, using a re-analysis of my 1993 data, I demonstrate that the perinatal peak I observed in the Romano-British age distribution is a robust result that supports an interpretation of infanticide.     

晚清至民国徽州小农的生产与生活——对5本婺源县排日账的分析

The Pairizhang (day-to-day accounts) found in Huizhou were mostly written by the pupils in old-style private school. They seem similar to a dairy in some way with the activities of family members (mostly male) as the main contents. However, they differ from modern diaries in many ways. It was a common practice in Wuyuan County to keep day-to-day accounts in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. By analyzing the 5 accounts found there, many underlying facts can be revealed, such as the time allocation of the main labor force, the composition of the peasant’s family economy, the general situation of productive activity and the days and ranges of their outdoor activity, etc. All these findings can help us have a better understanding of the peasants’ life in Huizhou at that time. __________ Translated by Li Dan from Jindaishi Yanjiu 近代史研究 (Modern Chinese History Studies), 2008, (2): 119–124     

High precision isotopic analyses of lead ores from New Mexico by MC-ICP-MS: implications for tracing the production and exchange of Pueblo IV glaze-decorated pottery

Between ca. 1275 and 1700 CE, Pueblo groups in the northern Southwest United States produced and exchanged ceramic bowls decorated with lead-based glaze paints. Previous studies of these glaze-decorated bowls have used lead isotopic analysis by ICP-MS to identify the sources of lead used by Pueblo potters, and investigate how social or economic factors may have influenced resource use among different Pueblo communities (e.g. 13 and 14; Huntley et al., 2007; Huntley, 2008). However, interpretations of much of this isotopic data have remained provisional because of overlap among the isotopic ratios of potential sources and because the isotopic composition of many glaze paints do not clearly match any known source. Here, we use multi-collector ICP-MS to re-measure the lead isotopic composition of 48 samples of lead sulfide (galena) and lead carbonate (cerussite) from sources in New Mexico that were potentially utilized by Pueblo potters, including mines within the Cerrillos Hills, Magdalena, Hansonburg, and Joyita Hills mining districts. These results define the isotopic composition of lead ores from these districts with greater precision and accuracy than achieved in previous studies and better distinguish among these mining districts in lead isotope space. Most significantly, we find that galena mineralization within the Cerrillos Hills only has a modest degree of isotopic variation, with ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios from 18.508 to 18.753, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios from 15.580 to 15.607, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios from 38.388 to 38.560. These ranges are far narrower than previously reported, and should supersede previously published values for this district. In total, we conclude that isotopic measurements of both ores and glaze paints made by MC-ICP-MS will provide new information about the provenance of lead in glaze paints and allow for more detailed interpretations about resource procurement and exchange in the Pueblo world.     

The Preservation and Identification of Piñon Resins by GC‐MS in Pottery from the Western Great Basin

Gas chromatography — mass spectrometry analysis of a sherd from the Nevada Test Site revealed a high quantity of terpenes, including sesquiterpenoids and diterpenoids, demonstrating that piñon resins were prepared in the pot in prehistoric times. The presence of these biomarkers allowed for a very specific identification of the products prepared in the pot, a level of detail not often achieved in lipid residue analysis. That the terpenes are relatively unoxidized demonstrates that they are quite stable over long periods of time. The study also shows that sherds on the surface of archaeological sites can preserve lipids and terpenes and are amenable to organic residue analysis.     

The use of SEM-EDS,PIXE and EDXRF for obsidian provenance studies in the Near East: a case study from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia)

In this paper we evaluate the relative analytical capabilities of SEM-EDS, PIXE and EDXRF for characterizing archaeologically significant Anatolian obsidians on the basis of their elemental compositions. The study involves 54 geological samples from various sources, together with an archaeological case study involving 100 artifacts from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia). With each technique the artifacts formed two compositional groups that correlated with the East Göllü Da? and Nenezi Da? sources. The non-destructive capabilities of these methods are emphasized (albeit with certain analytical limitations in the case of SEM-EDS), suggesting important new techniques for Near Eastern obsidian provenance studies.