Neodymium and strontium isotopes in the provenance determination of primary natron glass production

Glass Making in the Greco-Roman World: Results of the ARCHGLASS project

“…These two observations are in favour of a limestone source of lime (Freestone et al, 2003). The same combination of seawater Sr isotopic signatures and high Sr concentrations, and low 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratios and low Sr contents has been observed in numerous analyses of Roman natron glass (e.g., Wedepohl and Baumann, 2000;Freestone et al, 2003;Degryse et al, 2006a, b, c;, 2009b. Then why doesn't this approach seem to work for our calculated glasses?…”

“…Pale blue 8 th -9 th century AD Tel el-Ashmunein 20,4 60,5 -6,1 Table 5.2 B isotopic composition of ancient natron glass (samples previously described by Lauwers (2008) for Sagalassos, Ganio et al (2012b, c) for Oudenburg, Freestone et al (2003) for Tel el-Ashmunein, Freestone et al (2000) for Bet Eli'ezer, Tal et al (2004) for Apollonia, Degryse et al (2009b) for Kelemantia).…”

“…The glass from Sagalassos (SW Turkey) represents the common colour varieties of window and free-blown vessel glass and originates from Roman to Byzantine excavation contexts (Poblome, 1999;Degeest, 2000). Glass from three distinct periods was sampled: imperial (1 st to 3 rd century AD), late Roman (4 th to first half 5 th century AD) and early Byzantine (second half 5 th to 7 th century AD) (Degryse et al, 2009b). Most samples are from the third period, reflecting the majority of the deposits hitherto excavated at Sagalassos (Degryse et al, 2005).…”

Calibration and Use of the Heating Microscope for Indirect Evaluation of the Viscosity and Meltability of Archeological Glasses

“…During the Roman period, primary furnace glass was probably produced in a few specialized areas located in the eastern Mediterranean and possibly also in the west. The primary glass was then traded to the whole Empire, where it was reheated on secondary production sites and shaped into objects . Glass of this period was made using sand containing both shell fragments, providing the calcium carbonate present in aragonite, and aluminum‐rich minerals such as feldspar.…”

Western Mediterranean sand deposits as a raw material for Roman glass production

“…Furthermore, the suitability of these sands has never been evaluated. Recently however, the primary origin of some Early Roman glasses has been placed in the western Mediterranean based on their Sr and Nd isotopic signatures, which do not correspond with those of raw glass from the known primary production centres in Egypt and the Levant (Degryse et al, 2006(Degryse et al, , 2009Degryse and Schneider, 2008;Brems et al, in press a, b, c). However, this technique does not allow pinpointing the origin of an artefact since only broad geological sources can be defined.…”