The Archaeometry of Glass

Bibliometric analysis indicates that a marked upturn in the archaeometric investigation of ancient glass began at the turn of the millennium. The technological histories of glass and glaze are often intertwined, as glaze is essentially a layer of glass on the surface of a ceramic body comprising fired clay, or in the case of so-called faience, on a body of crushed quartz. The production of colourless, transparent glass depends upon a low concentration of dissolved colouring ions, the absence of included particles which interrupt the passage of light, and a smooth surface which does not scatter the incident radiation. The regionalization of production technologies and raw materials allows the sources of many glasses to be identified with sufficient resolution to make a significant contribution to the understanding of long-distance trade and exchange. A review of the earlier evidence for the location of the invention of glass concluded that it was inconclusive.