A glimmer of the eastern adriatic: Compositional analysis of first-millennium BCE glass from Histria (Istria, Croatia)

Abstract

Finds of glass artefacts from prehistoric Histria (present-day Istria, Croatia) are rare. This study presents compositions of thirty-eight glass beads and vessels spanning from the Late Bronze to the Late Iron Age analysed by EPMA, with a selected subset analysed using LA-ICP-MS. Levantine natron glass with Al₂O₃ around 2.5% is the most abundant compositional group. However, several other natron glass types have been detected from the early first millennium CE, including black natron glass with high Li, Th and U, corresponding to black glass type found elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East. Blue beads coloured with cobalt alum are decorated with lead antimonate yellow glass containing alumina concentrations below 1%, and, in spite of the very marked changes in elemental composition resulting from the colourant additions, these two glasses show similarities in elements such as K, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Zr which may reflect production in the same workshop. Two samples, dated to the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age, are of the low-magnesia-high-potash (LMHK) type from the Veneto, and two further, slightly later samples are plant ash-based glasses from Mesopotamia. Overall, the range in glass types demonstrates strong links between Histria and Italic prehistoric communities, and Histrian participation in established long-distance trade networks from a very early period.