Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Glass objects in the forms of containers, beads, or other personal ornaments are found all around the Indian Ocean. The circulation of these objects around the vast expanse of this geographical area reveals the connection of communities located in regions very far apart. Productions from the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and Europe were identified along the east coast of Africa and in Southern Africa, two regions that have attracted more and more research interest over the past two decades. Shifts in procurement centers suggest changes in access due to possible political or economic events disrupting production and trade. Chronologies based on typology and glass chemistry have been established, making glass objects useful temporal markers along other archaeological artifacts such as ceramics. In this panel, recent research projects exploring glass production in India will be presented. Papers will focus their attention on glass ornaments in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, or Africa.