Unpublished glass findings from the eastern necropolis of Naissus (Jagodin Mala, Niš)

Abstract

In the period from 1952-1967, during the systematic archaeological excavations of the area of the eastern necropolis of Naissus, in the modern day city quarter of Jagodin Mala, in Niš, a large number of glass objects was found. A representative portion of the findings was published in various publications, while the other findings, which belong to the study collection of the National Museum in Niš, have not been the subject of any separate study. These are new kinds of findings, such as glass lamps, window panes and tesserae, and the collection also includes the familiar, standard repertoire of glass vessels of the Late Antiquity period. The findings come from the grave units, the cemetery basilica with its crypt, and the archaeological layers from the area of the necropolis in Jagodin Mala. Besides the typological-chronological, as well as the topographic analysis, the paper also presents a complete image of the glass objects from the area of the necropolis, used in the burial and liturgical practices of the population of Naissus in Late Antiquity. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177007: Romanisation, urbanisation and transformation of urban centres of civil, military and residential character in Roman provinces in the territory of Serbia) and Grant no. 47018: IRS - Viminacium, roman city and military legion camp - research of material and non-material of inhabitants by using the modern technologies of remote detection, geophysics, GIS, digitalization and 3D visualization]

Keywords

• Late Antiquity
• Jagodin Mala
• Naissus-Niš
• necropolis
• basilica
• glass vessels
• glass objects