Production and provenance of architectural glass from the Umayyad period.

ABSTRACT: A large assemblage (n = 307) of architectural glasses (tesserae and windows) from the early 8th-century Umayyad residential site at Khirbat al-Minya was analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Trace element patterns are essential to establish the provenance of the base glass, while the comparative evaluation of the colouring and opacifying additives allow us to advance a production model for the manufacture of glass mosaic tesserae during the early Islamic period. The primary glass types are Levantine I and Egypt 1a, as well as a few older, reused tesserae, and Mesopotamian plant ash glass used for amber-coloured window fragments. Chemical data revealed fundamental differences in the colouring and opacification technologies between the Egyptian and Levantin

SUBMITTER: Adlington LW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7521681 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature