2017
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Jorge de Juan Ares et al., « Ancient and medieval Iberia seen through glass: An archaeometric perspective », HAL SHS (Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société), ID : 10670/1.21fa43...
The study of ancient and medieval glasses has identified distinct compositional groups as a result of the chemical characteristics of the raw materials used for its production. Archaeometric analysis can determine the provenance of the glass, and has demonstrated a large-scale production and commercialisation of raw glass throughout the Mediterranean during the ancient and medieval periods. Secondary workshops on the Iberian Peninsula imported raw glass from the Near East for the better part of the first millennium CE, following a similar pattern observed elsewhere in the Mediterranean region. However, there are some indications that point to a local production of glass and that deserve further investigation. In the ninth century, natron glass was replaced in al-Ándalus by plant ash and lead-rich glass that may represent a local production. Little is known about the production or use of glass in the Christian parts of the peninsula during this period.The increasing volume of analytical data on Spanish glass demonstrates the potential of an archaeometric approach to shed light not only on the production and trade of glass on the Iberian Peninsula but also on the ancient and medieval economy more generally.