Vrije Universiteit Brussel
ProjectRoman Black GlassThe use of black glass in general is associated with the production of wine and liquor bottles from the 17th century onwards, yet it is demonstrated that black glass was already known in the very early phase of glass production (e.g., Barag 1962). The first boom dates from the Roman imperial period and more specifically in the 2nd – 3rd century AD for the vessel production and in the 2nd – 4th century AD for the jewellery production. During the Roman period black glass occurs in all countries being part of the former Roman Empire. The north-western provinces (north of France, the German and Swiss Rhine region and the South of the Netherlands) and the south-eastern Mediterranean region (Egypt, Israel, Jordan) are the two key regions. This might, however, be due to the present lack of knowledge for other regions as the Balkan seems to detain very promising clues. The 1st century AD black glass vessels are mainly coming from civilian and military habitat (Cosyns, Fontaine 2008), whereas the vessels from the mid-2nd – mid-3rd centuries AD are essentially found in very rich tombs containing an amount of luxurious grave goods (Cosyns, Hanut 2005). The black glass jewellery seems mostly to be given as a burial gift to children and young women. These facts open the possibility to unravel some socio-cultural and religious aspects and questions on the meaning of the bracelets, rings and beads. Black glass must for that reason be seen as a unique medium within the study of the material culture of Roman Antiquity, in particular for the late Roman period. A diachronic study on the composition, production, function, distribution in the Roman Empire will therefore not only help to refine dating but also interpreting the archaeological context. The obtained knowledge gives a better insight in the social and economic aspects of Roman society. Furthermore the results from the archaeometry analyses on black glass will (help to) define the origin of (black) glass production (e.g., Deraedt et al. 1999; Freestone et al. 2002; Gratuze & Janssens 2004). Also it will provide a better understanding of the different conservation gradations within the field of restoration and consolidation of black glass (e.g., Schalm et al. 2004). It might therefore be surprising that no overall study on Roman black glass has been carried out at present. Nevertheless this type of glass is integrated in general studies on Roman glass (e.g., Vessberg 1952; Isings 1957; Saldern 1980) and in archaeological reports (e.g., Harden 1936; VandenHurk 1973; Rütti 1991; Cool & Price 1995). The information is in general limited to a description of the artefacts and of their context. Information on technology, (chemical) composition, origin, function and meaning of black glass objects are only described sporadically and very generally. Some publications give an insight in a specific aspect of Roman black glass, but with limitations in time and space: Isings (1964) gave an overview of the then known black glass vessels from the 1st – 3rd centuries AD in the western part of the Roman Empire; De Witte (1977) discussed the typology, chronology, function and technology of Roman black glass bracelets from Belgium in his MA-thesis; Spaer (1988) mapped out a typology on pre-Islamic glass bracelets from Israel; and finally recent research, on the basis of a chrono-typological study of the black glass vessels in northern Gaul, pointed out the unique opportunities black glass can provide as a ‘type fossil’ in archaeological contexts (Cosyns & Hanut 2005). The project is the first study that carries out research on Roman black glass from a holistic point of view – the only method to yield the greatest scientific assets possible. The interdisciplinary character of the research will be executed within the interaction of the archaeological, the historical and the archaeometric disciplines, and will provide a surplus to both human and exact sciences. A primary difficulty consists of defining the criteria to select black glass and consequently the samples. The archaeological approach defines the research criteria and provides a framework wherein the research will be carried out. 1. Analysis of the chrono-typology within each function (vessels, bracelets, beads, rings and gaming pieces), which will be compared to morphological parallels in the different materials. 2. Analysis of trade and distribution determining the provenance of each object is important to set out distribution maps of the vessels as well as of the jewellery (bracelets, beads, rings) and gaming pieces. It will provide a deeper understanding of the regional and interregional trade and distribution (relation within a civitas, between several civitates within one province and between different provinces) in the whole Roman Empire during the imperial period. 3. Contextual analysis on military, funerary, religious, habitat or production sites, the different aspects of use, function and meaning of every type of the acquired chrono-typology will be illustrated. The obtained data will be interpreted especially from an historical approach to get a better understanding in consumption patterns and social, economic and cultural aspects. An archaeometric approach can give valuable information concerning the colour, date and origin of black glass. The acquired data will help to solve the archaeological and historical questions by means of cluster analysis, seriation or other statistical methods. Different measuring methods will offer insight in the recognition of different productions, in time as in space. The chemical analysis forms the basis to :
Two types of chemical analysis methods are being used: the first consists of the non-destructive SEM-XRF method (EPMA) at the laboratory MiTAC of prof. Dr Koen Janssens of the University of Antwerp to be able to obtain an overview of the main elements, and secondly the minor and trace elements will well defined by means of LA-ICP-MS analysis at the laboratory of the University of Technology, Warsaw and the CNRS Orléans. The acquired results will characterize what black glass is made of in the successive periods and different regions and how the Romans made their glass black. By means of absorption spectroscopy Fotonica will make possible to determine what makes green, blue, purple or brown glass so dark and/or opaque that the coloured glass appears optically black. Optical research, by means of absorption spectroscopy will be carried out by Dr. Wendy Meulebroeck on black glass to discern different colours fabrics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel supervision of Prof. Dr Hugo Thienpont. A techno-morphological research, by means of vibration spectrometry, is also taken into consideration to discern how black glass was made. The use of vibration spectrometry can define the thermic history to find out whether or not the production of Roman black glass was intentionally. Defining how long the material was heated, how frequently and at what temperature the material was heated can be used in decerning glass workshops and production periods. The historical approach concentrates on the social, economical, cultural and religious aspects of the use of black glass by means of written sources and the obtained results from the archaeological and archaeometric approach. While the studies of the socio-cultural and religious objects (function, meaning and archaeological processes), we will try defining why a specific object has a specific shape and we will check if black glass objects were used for specific rituals within a specific social group within a specific period. In doing so, we aim at determining what meaning Romans gave to the wearing of black glass jewellery and the use of black (glass) vessels. The socio-economic aspects (production and consumption) will be considered by investigating which mechanisms within the Roman society were responsible for the upcoming of black glass vessels during the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD and the disappearance during the 2nd half of the 3rd century AD, while black glass remained in production for jewellery. We need need to determine the reasons which were responsible for the vanishing of the production of bracelets in western Europe during the 1st half of the 5th century AD, while in the Byzantine Empire and later in the Islamic world the production remained stable. BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Cool, H.E.M., Price, J., 1995. Roman vessel glass from excavations in Colchester, 1971-85. Colchester archaeological Report 8. Colchester, Colchester Archaeological Trust. - Cosyns, P., Hanut, F., 2005. ‘Black Glass of 2nd to 3rd Century Date in Northern Gaul : a Preliminary Survey’ in Annales du 16e Congrès International de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Londres 2003), Nottingham, 117-122. - Cosyns, P., Fontaine, S.D., 2008 (forthcoming). ‘La vaisselle en verre d’apparence noire dans les provinces occidentales au Ier siècle ap. J.-C.’ in Annales du 17e Congrès International de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre (Anvers 2006), Antwerp. - Deraedt, I., Janssens, K., Veeckman, J., 1999. ‘Compositional distinctions between 16th century ‘Façon-de-Venise’ and Venetian Glass Vessels, excavated in Antwerp, Belgium’. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom. 14, 493-498. - De Witte, H., 1977. Glazen armbanden uit de voorromeinse en romeinse periode, gevonden in België, niet gepubliceerde licentiaatsverhandeling, Universiteit Gent. - Freestone, I.C., Ponting, M., Hughes M.J., 2002. ‘The origins of Byzantine glass from Maroni Petrera, Cyprus’. Archaeometry 44, 2, 257-272.
- Harden, D.B. 1936. Glass from Karanis, Found by the University of Michigan Archaeological Expedition in Egypt 1924-29,University of Michigan Studies. Humanistic Series 41, Ann Arbor. - Isings, C. 1957. Roman glass from dated finds, Archaeologica Traiectina 2. Groningen/Djakarta, J.B. Wolters.
- Mertens, J., Van Impe, L., 1971. Het Laat-Romeins grafveld van Oudenburg, Archaeologia Belgica 135. Brussel. - Rütti, B., 1991. Die römischen Gläser aus Augst und Kaiseraugst, Forschungen in Augst 13/1-2. Augst, Römermuseum Augst. - Saldern, A. von, 1980. Ancient and Byzantine glass from Sardis, Archaeological exploration of Sardis. Monographs 6, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts).
- VandenHurk, L.J.A.M., 1973. ‘The Tumuli from the Roman Period of Esch, Province of North Brabant I’. Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek 23, 189-236. - Vessberg, O., 1952. ‘Roman Glass in Cyprus’. Opuscula Archaeologica 8, 109-165.
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