Pushing Boundaries in the Scientific Investigation of Glass: A New Project to Source Ancient Indian Glass

Summary

Scientific investigation of archaeological glass has advanced, beginning in the early 2000’s, with studies relying more heavily on determination of trace element concentrations to differentiate production recipes depending on distinct ingredient sources and the use of larger corpuses of artifacts to more easily and reliably reveal production patterns. At the same time, isotope analyses (e.g., Pb, Sr and Nd) attempting to source raw materials used to manufacture glass in antiquity grew in importance, focusing mostly on glass produced around the Mediterranean basin.

In a new project, recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), we will combine trace element and isotope analyses to study the ancient glass industry of South Asia which, despite its importance and impact within and beyond the Indian Ocean region, is still poorly understood. To this end, we will collect raw materials, test their suitability to obtain glass and compare the trace element and isotope signatures with those of different South Indian glass types. By connecting Indian glass types to potential production regions in South Asia, the results of this project will illuminate the spatial and temporal interconnections between cultures and regions of the Indian Ocean and beyond.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20443