Raw Materials, Reuse, and Refuse: A multi-disciplinary study of Karanis glass

Summary

This multi-disciplinary study comprising archaeological, scientific, and morphological analyses as well as ethnoarchaeology and textual analysis, interrogates how value was assessed in the ancient world by examining Roman glass from Karanis, Egypt. Onsite portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) analysis of recently excavated glass was conducted since the Egyptian government prohibits the export of artifacts for further analysis. This research, combined with pXRF and electron microprobe analysis of museum specimens from Karanis, helps distinguish glass compositional groups. A database including several variables--chemical composition, morphology, style, use, reuse, discard, and date--enables the exploration of relationships among variables using statistical analysis to compose a new typology of Karanis glass. An ethnoarchaeological study of modern glass workers in Cairo and in Hampshire, UK allows a reconstruction of the production sequences (chaîne opératoire) involved in producing glass objects and relationships between value and technology. The decisions artisans made during the production of glass objects forms the foundation of this typology because they reflect shared conceptions of value in Roman Egypt. This study examines how changes in glass types used at Karanis relate to fluctuations in the economy and to changes in the social, ideological, and political landscape during the Roman Period.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Glass and Glass technology: Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Archaeological Research   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

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