Glass Bangles from Saudi Arabia in the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper presents research on glass bangle fragments believed to be from the Al Hasa oasis in Saudi Arabia, donated to the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH). Glass bangles were manufactured and widely traded across the Middle East and South Asia, but there has not yet been a comprehensive typology of bangle styles and understanding of glass compositions is still in the early stages. Additionally, few bangles have been studied from sites in Saudi Arabia. This has left gaps in our understanding of the trade and use of these objects. Here we begin filling the gap by comprehensively cataloging the diverse bangle assemblage in the MNCH collection using a newly developed typology by Nash and pairing this with compositional analysis using LA-ICP-MS. Based on this work, we date the collection to the thirteenth–sixteenth centuries CE; we have identified evidence for possible local manufacture of bangles, as well as bangles traded from as far away as South Asia. Although this collection is unprovenienced, our work has begun to shed light on the use and exchange of these objects within the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36322.0