Glass of the Roman World

Justine Bayley, Ian Freestone, Caroline Jackson

Oxbow Books, Jul 31, 2015 - Social Science - 272 pages

Glass of the Roman World illustrates the arrival of new cultural systems, mechanisms of trade and an expanded economic base in the early 1st millennium AD which, in combination, allowed the further development of the existing glass industry. Glass became something which encompassed more than simply a novel and highly decorative material. Glass production grew and its consumption increased until it was assimilated into all levels of society, used for display and luxury items but equally for utilitarian containers, windows and even tools. These 18 papers by renowned international scholars include studies of glass from Europe and the Near East. The authors write on a variety of topics where their work is at the forefront of new approaches to the subject. They both extend and consolidate aspects of our understanding of how glass was produced, traded and used throughout the Empire and the wider world drawing on chronology, typology, patterns of distribution, and other methodologies, including the incorporation of new scientific methods. Though focusing on a single material the papers are firmly based in its archaeological context in the wider economy of the Roman world, and consider glass as part of a complex material culture controlled by the expansion and contraction of the Empire. The volume is presented in honor of Jenny Price, a foremost scholar of Roman glass.

Contents

• Preliminary report on the excavations of the site ofBeni SalamaWadi Natrun 2003 20059: 1
• 2 The Hambach glass production in the late Roman period: 23
• 3 A Gazetteer of glass working sites in Roman London: 33
• 4 Provenance studies and Roman glass: 44
• A preliminary survey: 57
• 6 Composition technology and production of coloured glasses from Roman mosaic vessels: 61
• 7 Roman glass from East to West: 77
• New data on Narbonensis province: 97
• 9 Roman and later glass from the Fezzan: 112
• 10 Some exceptional glass vessels from Caesarea Maritima: 116
• Contextual analysis of Late Roman glass assemblages from Ephesus and Petra: 124
• 12 A Roman dionysiac cameo glass vase: 138
• 13 An unusual mouldblownbeaker from Barzan southwestFrance: 146
• 14 Flat glass from Butrint and its surrounding areas Albania: 153
• 15 Two wooden glazing bars found in Vindonissa Switzerland from the collection of the Swiss National Museum: 165
• 16 The reuseof Roman glass fragments: 170
• 17 Roman enamels and enamelling: 178
• 18 Beyond the Channel Thats quite a different matter A comparison of Roman black glass from BritanniaGallia Belgica and Germania Inferior: 190

About the author

Justine Bayley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London. Ian Freestone is Professor of Archaeological Materials and Technology at University College London. Caroline Jackson is Reader in Archaeological Meterials in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests are in the study and scientific analysis of archaeological materials, specialising in glass and other vitreous materials such as faience, particularly relating to Bronze Age Egypt and the Aegean and on Roman glasses from consumption contexts.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Glass of the Roman World
• Editors: Justine Bayley, Ian Freestone, Caroline Jackson
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Oxbow Books, 2015
• ISBN: 1782977775, 9781782977773
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: History / Ancient / Rome; Social Science / Archaeology