Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation

Previous analytical studies show that most of Northern Italian glass has been heavily recycled and that mixing of natron and plant ash glass was occurring (Verità and Toninato 1990; Verità et al. 2002; Uboldi and Verità 2003; Andreescu-Treadgold and Henderson 2006; Silvestri and Marcante 2011). The...

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Main Authors: Bertini, Camilla, Henderson, Julian, Chenery, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/
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author Bertini, Camilla
Henderson, Julian
Chenery, Simon
author_facet Bertini, Camilla
Henderson, Julian
Chenery, Simon
author_sort Bertini, Camilla
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Previous analytical studies show that most of Northern Italian glass has been heavily recycled and that mixing of natron and plant ash glass was occurring (Verità and Toninato 1990; Verità et al. 2002; Uboldi and Verità 2003; Andreescu-Treadgold and Henderson 2006; Silvestri and Marcante 2011). The re-use of “old Roman glass” has been interpreted as stagnation in glass trade from the primary production areas. However, the reintroduction of plant ash glass on sites such as Torcello, Nogara, and in Lombardy at the same time as it was reintroduced in the Levant, strongly indicates long-distance contacts with the Levant at least from the eighth century CE. This paper addresses the key issue of recycling by focusing on the compositional nature of glass traded and reworked in Northern Italy after the seventh century CE set in a broad Mediterranean context by analysing major, minor, and trace elements in eighty-nine glass samples (seventh to the eleventh century AD) from the glass workshop of Piazza XX Settembre, Comacchio. Five major previously proposed compositional groups of glass have been identified from Comacchio (Levantine Apollonia and Jalame types, HIMT, Foy-2, and plant ash glass). The impact of recycling and mixing practices in Comacchio glass is also discussed with the help of known recycling markers and selected ratios (major and trace elements). The mixing between Levantine, HIMT, and plant ash glass is highlighted and end-members of potential natron to natron mixing compositional groups have been identified. The compositional nature of plant ash glass from Northern Italy is discussed in light of their trace element content and production areas.
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spelling nottingham-609432020-06-22T02:28:27Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/ Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation Bertini, Camilla Henderson, Julian Chenery, Simon Previous analytical studies show that most of Northern Italian glass has been heavily recycled and that mixing of natron and plant ash glass was occurring (Verità and Toninato 1990; Verità et al. 2002; Uboldi and Verità 2003; Andreescu-Treadgold and Henderson 2006; Silvestri and Marcante 2011). The re-use of “old Roman glass” has been interpreted as stagnation in glass trade from the primary production areas. However, the reintroduction of plant ash glass on sites such as Torcello, Nogara, and in Lombardy at the same time as it was reintroduced in the Levant, strongly indicates long-distance contacts with the Levant at least from the eighth century CE. This paper addresses the key issue of recycling by focusing on the compositional nature of glass traded and reworked in Northern Italy after the seventh century CE set in a broad Mediterranean context by analysing major, minor, and trace elements in eighty-nine glass samples (seventh to the eleventh century AD) from the glass workshop of Piazza XX Settembre, Comacchio. Five major previously proposed compositional groups of glass have been identified from Comacchio (Levantine Apollonia and Jalame types, HIMT, Foy-2, and plant ash glass). The impact of recycling and mixing practices in Comacchio glass is also discussed with the help of known recycling markers and selected ratios (major and trace elements). The mixing between Levantine, HIMT, and plant ash glass is highlighted and end-members of potential natron to natron mixing compositional groups have been identified. The compositional nature of plant ash glass from Northern Italy is discussed in light of their trace element content and production areas. Springer 2020-06-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/1/Bertini2020_Article_SeventhToEleventhCenturyCEGlas.pdf Bertini, Camilla, Henderson, Julian and Chenery, Simon (2020) Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 12 (6). ISSN 1866-9557 Early Medieval; Glass analysis; Glass production; Northern Italy; Recycling; Trace element analysis; Trade http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01048-8 doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01048-8 doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01048-8
spellingShingle Early Medieval; Glass analysis; Glass production; Northern Italy; Recycling; Trace element analysis; Trade
Bertini, Camilla
Henderson, Julian
Chenery, Simon
Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title_full Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title_fullStr Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title_full_unstemmed Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title_short Seventh to eleventh century CE glass from Northern Italy: between continuity and innovation
title_sort seventh to eleventh century ce glass from northern italy: between continuity and innovation
topic Early Medieval; Glass analysis; Glass production; Northern Italy; Recycling; Trace element analysis; Trade
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60943/