Archaeological and chemical variability of glass beads: olive and fusiform beads in central Europe

0570544 - ARÚ 2024 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Tomková, Kateřina - Křížová, Šárka - Faltusová, V. - Schibille, N. - Vaculovič, T.
Archaeological and chemical variability of glass beads: olive and fusiform beads in central Europe.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Roč. 15, č. 3 (2023), č. článku 19. ISSN 1866-9557. E-ISSN 1866-9565
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA19-23566S
Institutional support: RVO:67985912 ; RVO:67985831
Keywords : glass beads * Early middle ages * Central Europe * soda glass * recycled glass * glass-working
OECD category: Archaeology; Archaeology (GLU-S)
Impact factor: 2.2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-023-01717-4

The distribution of olive and fusiform beads, geographically limited to Bohemia, Moravia (Czech Republic), Bavaria (Germany) and its surrounding area in the 8th–10th centuries, suggests local central European glass-working. Archaeological differences in regional preference for olive or fusiform beads, typological details, and their not entirely synchronous occurrence point to their production in several workshops. LA-ICP-MS analyses of 76 beads show that most of the beads were made from recycled soda-lime-silica natron glass of the older Roman tradition and Late Antique tradition (Roman Mn, Sb and Mn-Sb, Foy 2.1/2.2), and contemporary glass from Egypt (so-called Egypt 2). Only isolated finds of olive beads from Bohemia were made from Islamic plant ash and western European wood ash glass. The reuse of glasses of different opacity and multiple colours was investigated by SEM-EDS on four beads. The present paper raises the question of glass sources for local glass-working in central Europe and contributes to the study of recycling of glass in this part of Europe.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0341851