The chemical composition of the glass chunks, identical to that of contemporary glass of the same colour, strongly suggests that these chunks were used for the manufacture of late Roman to early Byzantine glass at Beit Ras. ![]() All the glasses (artefacts and chunks) are of the soda-lime-silica type and correspond to the previously defined Levantine I glass group. The results of chemical analyses indicated that the glass did not show a clear difference in chemical composition between late Roman and early Byzantine times. For this purpose, a considerable group of raw glass chunks and vessel fragments of different colours and typologies were collected. Furthermore, the present paper aims to provide incontrovertible evidence that this site must be considered as a major centre for the secondary production of glass during a period between the 3rd and the 6th centuries. The aim of this study is to characterise the chemical and technological aspects of late Roman to early Byzantine glasses excavated from this main archaeological site. The chemical analysis of ancient glasses can provide important information regarding the manufacturing technology of the glass made during a specific period. The finding of considerable collections of glass artefacts, together with considerable lumps of glass chunks, fuel ash slag and kiln fragments related to glass processing strongly suggests a local secondary production (working) of glass at the Beit Ras/Capitolias archaeological site in northern Jordan from the late Roman to the early Byzantine period. Finally, some outstanding differences connected to composition and chronology were found, since Late Roman glasses presented a higher and distinct degree of alteration than Early Empire ones. Comparison with coeval glasses suggested that Augusta Emerita shared the same trade glass circles than other contemporary Roman towns, within the frame of a secondary production scale. One composed of Early Empire glasses and a second one composed of glasses from the fourth century AD onward, which was characterized by the presence of the so-called HIMT (high iron, manganese, and titanium) glasses. Resulting data indicated that all the samples studied were natron-based soda lime silicate glasses, even though two chronological and compositionally distinct groups were distinguished. Glass samples from different sites and chronology, either from inside or from outside the perimeter of the ancient town and from the first to the sixth century AD, were analyzed and characterized through optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry and VIS spectrophotometry. The main goal of the research was to provide for the first time some compositional and technological insights into the glass finds unearthed in this town. ![]() This paper presents the results derived from an archaeometric study undertaken on glass samples from the Roman town of Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Spain).
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