Composition and origin of the first millennium AD glass uncovered at Khirbet adh-Dharih, south Jordan

Abstract

Sixty-four glasses excavated at Khirbet adh-Dharih, south Jordan, and archaeologically dated from the Roman to Early Abbasid periods were analyzed by wavelength-dispersive electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The majority of the glasses (57) were fluxed with natron. In the Roman period antimony-decolorized glass from Egypt, manganese-decolorized glass from the Levant and recycled Roman MnSb glass are present. From the middle of the fourth century glass from the Levantine production centers Jalame and Apollonia dominates the assemblage up to the eighth century, when glass from Bet Eli’ezer becomes common, consistent with previous findings from the North. Egypt I and II types also occur at this time, consistent with previous findings from the wider region indicating that Egyptian glass continued to be imported into the Levant in the 8-9th centuries. Plant ash glass is represented from Mesopotamia, from Tyre and from unidentified sources in Egypt or Syria. Overall, these results suggest that glass from a wider range of sources was being exploited in the early Islamic period than in Byzantine times. Evidence for recycling is particularly apparent in the Apollonia-type glasses but is hardly noticed in the Bet Eli’ezer-type, consistent with a greater dependency on local resources in the sixth-seventh centuries.