The earliest glass from the territory of Slovenia

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the analyses of three glass beads from three Bronze Age sites, Medvode-Svetje, Trata near Škofja Loka and Kamna Gorica near Ljubljana. All three sites belong to the Oloris-Podsmreka horizon, which covers the Middle and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (c. second half of the 16th/first half of the 15th century to 12th century BC). The PIXE and PIGE analyses revealed that only two of the examined beads belong to the Bronze Age. The bead from the Medvode-Svetje site is similar to LMHK beads and is most likely an import from the Frattesina production centre in northern Italy, while the bead from the Trata site has similarities with the eastern Mediterranean or even Mesopotamian area HMg glass. The natron glass bead from Kamna Gorica is probably an Iron Age infiltrate in a Bronze Age layer.

Keywords

• Slovenia
• Bronze Age
• Oloris-Podsmreka horizon
• glass-beads
• PIXE and PIGE analysis