The roots of provenance: glass, plants and isotopes in the Islamic Middle East

Henderson, J.; Evans, Jane; Barkoudah, Y.. 2009 The roots of provenance: glass, plants and isotopes in the Islamic Middle East. Antiquity, 83 (320). 414-429.

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Official URL: http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/083/ant0830414.htm

Abstract/Summary

Glass - one of the most prestigious materials of the early Islamic empire - was traded not only as vessels and bangles but as raw glass blocks. One of its raw materials, plant-ash, was also traded. This means that tracking the production of this precious commodity is especially challenging. The authors show that while chemical composition can relate to vessel type, it is a combination Of chemical compositions with strontium and neodymium isotope ratios that is most likely to lead to (a geological) provenance for its manufacture. The materials used by the glassmakers were local sand and plant ashes. Reported here is the first application of the method to the glass made at the primary glass making centre of al-Raqqa, Syria in an environmental context.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Programmes:	BGS Programmes 2009 > NERC Isotope Geoscience Laboratory
NORA Subject Terms:	Archaeology
Date made live:	28 Jan 2010 16:04 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/9176

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Programmes:

BGS Programmes 2009 > NERC Isotope Geoscience Laboratory

NORA Subject Terms:

Archaeology

Date made live:

28 Jan 2010 16:04 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/9176