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Early medieval glass beads: witness to changes in central Europe – the case of Hostivice (Czech Republic)

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Abstract

The long time period covered by the Hostivice cemeteries of the fourth century, late fifth–mid-sixth centuries and tenth century makes it possible to study the development of glass beads from the Late Roman period to the Early Middle Ages. Chemical analyses confirmed that the beads from central Europe reflect the principal transition from natron to plant ash glass during the eighth–ninth centuries. This study also shows that the beads made from natron glass were still distributed in the ninth–tenth centuries when new types of beads were made from this glass. Some of these beads are products of central European glass-working, where they occur alongside imported beads. Apart from that, high-boron glass, high-lead glass and a faience bead were also present at Hostivice in the tenth century. Limitations of chemical analysis in the study of beads related to compositional subgroups of natron glass and connected with the large scale of recycling and to the heterogeneity of opaque glass of beads are discussed. The recognition of supraregional and local types of beads, together with the synthesis of chemical and archaeological data, allowed us to characterize the reciprocal relations between chemical groups of glass and the typology and manufacturing techniques of the beads.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the access to collections of beads to the Museum of Central Bohemia in Roztoky. Our thanks for providing reference materials (Corning Glass A, B) are due to the Smithsonian Institution, Department of Mineral Sciences.

The study was conducted within institutional support RVO 67985831 of the Institute of Geology and RVO 67985912 of the Institute of Archaeology, Prague (Czech Academy of Sciences).

Funding

This research was funded by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), project No. 19-23566S – Prehistoric and historical glass from the Czech Republic. Continuity of dialogue of archaeology and archaeometry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Letenská 4, 118 00, Prague 1, Czech Republic

    Kateřina Tomková, Natalie Venclová & David Daněček

  2. Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojová 269, 165 00, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Šárka Křížová

  3. IRAMAT-CEB, UMR7065, CNRS/Université d’Orléans, 3D Rue de La Férollerie, 45071, Orléans, France

    Nadine Schibille

  4. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 35, Brno, Czech Republic

    Veronika Faltusová & Tomáš Vaculovič

  5. Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Laboratory Research On Geomaterials, Mlynska Dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava 4, Slovakia

    Tomáš Vaculovič

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  1. Kateřina Tomková
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  2. Natalie Venclová
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Contributions

DD classified the archaeological material. KT and NV analysed archaeological data and interpreted them in the context of chemical analyses. TV and VF conducted the LA-ICP-MS analyses; ŠK provided SEM–EDS analyses and the evaluation of chemical data. NS evaluated the compositional groups and participated in data interpretation. The text was edited by KT, NV, NS and ŠK. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kateřina Tomková.

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Tomková, K., Venclová, N., Křížová, Š. et al. Early medieval glass beads: witness to changes in central Europe – the case of Hostivice (Czech Republic). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 60 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01754-z

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