The created stone : chemical and archaeological perspectives on the colour and material properties of early Egyptian glass, 1500-1200 B.C
The Late Bronze Age in Western Asia and Egypt witnessed an explosion in the production of so-called 'vitreous materials', in particular the earliest glass. From its outset, this material appeared in an enormous variety of colours and colour combinations, the manufacture of which demanded a high degree of technological know-how. The unique properties of glass also rapidly came to the fore, most notably the potential of glass to be worked while hot. Archaeometric research into early Egyptian glass has tended to focus on chemical and isotopic analysis as a means to assign provenance to its raw ingredients. To this end, the use of a technique new to archaeology, ToF-SIMS, is developed here in order to investigate the origin of the colorant opacifiers used in glass production. But questions about manufacturing technology and stages of production are also vital to an understanding of the role and perception of glass, and the aforementioned technique is complemented by electron microprobe analysis, revealing a surprising complexity of production, primarily related to coloration. Furthermore, it has been argued that the terms used to refer to glass in epigraphic sources indicate that it was primarily produced in order
Duckworth, ChloĂ« N.
NK Decorative arts. Applied arts. Decoration and ornament
The created stone : chemical and archaeological perspectives on the colour and material properties of early Egyptian glass, 1500-1200 B.C. The Late Bronze Age in Western Asia and Egypt witnessed an explosion in the production of so-called 'vitreous materials', in particular the earliest glass. From its outset, this material appeared in an enormous variety of colours and colour combinations, the manufacture of which demanded a high degree of technological know-how. The unique properties of glass also rapidly came to the fore, most notably the potential of glass to be worked while hot. Archaeometric research into early Egyptian glass has tended to focus on chemical and isotopic analysis as a means to assign provenance to its raw ingredients. To this end, the use of a technique new to archaeology, ToF-SIMS, is developed here in order to investigate the origin of the colorant opacifiers used in glass production. But questions about manufacturing technology and stages of production are also vital to an understanding of the role and perception of glass, and the aforementioned technique is complemented by electron microprobe analysis, revealing a surprising complexity of production, primarily related to coloration. Furthermore, it has been argued that the terms used to refer to glass in epigraphic sources indicate that it was primarily produced in order
create stone chemical archaeological_perspective colour material_property early egyptian glass late_bronze_age western_asia egypt witness explosion production so_called material particular early glass outset material appear enormous variety colour colour combination manufacture demand high_degree technological know how unique property glass also rapidly come fore notably potential glass work hot archaeometric early egyptian glass tend_focus chemical isotopic_analysis mean assign provenance raw ingredient end use technique new archaeology develop order_investigate origin use glass_production question manufacture_technology stage production also vital_role perception glass aforementioned technique complement electron microprobe analysis_reveal surprising complexity production primarily relate furthermore argue term use refer glass epigraphic source indicate primarily produce order