Chemical Analysis Suggesting Origin of Raw Materials and Possible Recycling of Late Antique Roman Glass from Vasileos Irakleiou Street 45, Thessaloniki in Northern Greece

Abstract

During antiquity, it is known that glass was produced in specialized primary workshops in Levant and Egypt, and this glass was melted and formed into objects in secondary workshops, and distributed in most cities and towns of the Roman Empire. Great efforts, although it is difficult, have been made to distinguish where it was produced. In this study, we perform chemical analysis on 48 glass samples (22 moils and 26 glass artefacts) dated to the 6th century CE from Vasileos Irakleiou Street, 45, Thessaloniki in northern Greece by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy–Dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX). All glasses were produced with natron as a flux and based on the sodium oxide content we divided them into two groups. Most of the glasses’ chemical analysis indicates that they originated from Egypt, and can be categorized as HIMT and others as Roman Mn or Roman Mn-Sb. MnO is the main decolorizer, while in some samples MnO coexists with Sb2O3. Finally, recycling processes are evident in most of the samples.

Keywords

• ancient glass
• glass recycling
• glass provenance
• natron glass
• HIMT
• colorants