Glass of the Roman World

Glass of the Roman World illustrates the arrival of new cultural systems, mechanisms of trade and an expanded economic base in the early 1st millennium AD which, in combination, allowed the further development of the existing glass industry. Glass became something which encompassed more than simply a novel and highly decorative material. Glass production grew and its consumption increased until it was assimilated into all levels of society, used for display and luxury items but equally for utilitarian containers, windows and even tools.
These 18 papers by renowned international scholars include studies of glass from Europe and the Near East. The authors write on a variety of topics where their work is at the forefront of new approaches to the subject. They both extend and consolidate aspects of our understanding of how glass was produced, traded and used throughout the Empire and the wider world drawing on chronology, typology, patterns of distribution, and other methodologies, including the incorporation of new scientific methods. Though focusing on a single material the papers are firmly based in its archaeological context in the wider economy of the Roman world, and consider glass as part of a complex material culture controlled by the expansion and contraction of the Empire. The volume is presented in honour of Jenny Price, a foremost scholar of Roman glass.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contributors
Preface

Introduction: Jennifer Price and her Contribution to the Study of Roman Glass
Jennifer Price Publications

Section 1: Technology and Production
1. Primary Glass Workshops in Graeco-Roman Egypt: Preliminary Report on the Excavations of the Site of Beni Salama, Wadi Natrun (2003, 2005-9), Marie-Dominique Nenna

2. The Hambach Glass Production in the Late Roman Period, Anna-Barbara Follmann-Schulz

3. A Gazetteer of Glass Working Sites in Roman London, John Shepherd

4. Provenance Studies and Roman Glass, Caroline Jackson and Harriet Foster

5. The Pontil in The Roman World: A Preliminary Study, David Whitehouse

6. Composition, Technology and Production of Coloured Glasses from Roman Mosaic Vessels, Colleen Stapleton and Ian Freestone

7. Roman Glass from East to West, Marianne Stern

Section 2: Vessels and their Forms
8. Mould-Blown Beakers with Figurative Scenes: New Data on Narbonensis Province, Souen Fontaine and Danielle Foy
9. Roman and Later Glass from the Fezzan, Birgitta Hofmann

10. Some Exceptional Glass Vessels from Caesarea Maritima, Yael Israeli

11. Glass In The Domestic Space: Contextual Analysis of Late Roman Glass Assemblages from Ephesus and Petra, Daniel Keller

12. A Roman Dionysiac Cameo Glass Vase, Martine Newby-Haspeslagh

13. An Unusual Mould-Blown Beaker from Barzan, South-West France, Sally Cottam

Section 3: Other Uses of Glass

14. Flat Glass from Butrint and its Surrounding Areas, Albania, Sarah Jennings

15. Two Wooden Glazing Bars found in Vindonissa (Switzerland) from the Collection of the Swiss National Museum, Heidi Amrein

16. The Re-Use of Roman Glass Fragments, Sylvia Fuenfschilling

17. Roman Enamels and Enamelling, Justine Bayley

18. Beyond the Channel! That’s Quite a Different Matter. A Comparison of Roman Black Glass From Britannia, Gallia Belgica And Germania Inferior, Peter Cosyns

Justine Bayley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London.

Ian Freestone is Professor of Archaeological Materials and Technology at University College London.

Caroline Jackson is Reader in Archaeological Meterials in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests are in the study and scientific analysis of archaeological materials, specialising in glass and other vitreous materials such as faience, particularly relating to Bronze Age Egypt and the Aegean and on Roman glasses from consumption contexts.