The glass finds from Eleutherna
Dr Kalliopi Nikita
The project is a combined archaeological and technological investigation of the glass objects that were found during the excavations in the eastern sector of ancient Eleutherna.The materials cover the chronological range between the early Imperial Roman times and the end of the Early Byzantine period. A comprehensive catalogue of the vitreous finds and their scientific analyses will be published as a monograph entitled Eleutherna-Sector I: The Glass Finds in the monograph series Eleutherna-Sector I.
Brief history of the site
Eleutherna was a wealthy urban site of north central Crete in Roman and Early Byzantine period (c. mid-1st century BC - 7th/8th century AD). The remains of luxurious villas, baths, and other public buildings demonstrate that Eleutherna was a prosperous centre since the Roman conquest in Crete (68/67 BC) and during the imperial period until the catastrophic earthquake in late antiquity (AD 365/367). When Crete became a part of the Byzantine Empire, a large basilica was constructed at the See of Eleutherna by bishop Euphratas (early 5th century AD). Despite the geological disasters and the Arabian raids in Crete (mid-7th-8th century AD), Eleutherna was still a flourishing urban centre. The attacks of caliph Harun Al-Rashid (AD 768-809) and another earthquake (AD 796) led to the final abandonment of the site (Themelis 2004a, b).
Materials, artefacts and archaeological contexts
The abundance and diversity of glass that found in several buildings at Eleutherna-Sector suggest specific research foci in terms of archaeology and technology. Various glass vessel forms occurred in Roman and Early Byzantine contexts (Figures 1, 2 and 3).
Figure 1: Two-handled flask. Base and major part of the ovoid body missing. Free-blown glass in transparent purple colour. Handles of translucent dark blue glass. Mid-Fourth century AD. Rethymnon Archaeological Museum.
Figure 2: Stemmed goblet. Free blown transparent greenish glass. H. 0.046m. B.D. 0.043m. W. 0.058m. Sixth century AD. Rethymnon Archaeological Museum.
Figure 3: Left. Unguentarium with piriform body. Free-blown transparent greenish glass. H. 0.185m. B.D. 0.052. M.D. 0.07m. R.D. 0.048m. Grave 6. seventh century AD. Right. Unguentarium with globular body. Free-blown transparent bluish glass. H. 0.08m. B.D. 0.05m. M.D. 0.075m. Grave 7. seventh century AD. Rethymnon Archaeological Museum
Numerous glass tesserae come from the wall mosaics of the two Roman villas (Figure 4). Glass window panes comprise an important group of glass finds typical of Early Byzantine Eleutherna (Figure 5). Glazed ceramics, which appeared in a number of Early Byzantine burials, are among the earliest in the Aegean of this period. Minor objects include beads, ring-stones, inlays and bracelets.
Figure 4: Numerous coloured glass tesserae. Irregularly cubical in shape. Dimensions ranging between 0.005m and 0.01m. Roman Villa 1-Room 11. From a wall mosaic. Third century AD. Rethymnon Archaeological Museum.
Figure 5: Fragment of a window pane. Transparent green bubbly glass. Roller-moulded. L. 0.115m. W. 0.101m. Th. 0.007m. Small Bathhouse. Seventh century AD. Rethymnon Archaeological Museum.
Methodology
Archaeological investigation of the glass finds deals with initial inspection and description of the external morphology of glass (colour, opacity, translucency or transparency), typological classification and stylistic analysis of the objects. Comparisons with other published contemporaneous glass artefacts in Crete and the Aegean will help set Eleutherna glasses within the broader archaeological context of glass production in the Eastern Mediterranean in Roman and Early Byzantine times.
Technological examination is based on the chemical analysis of glass and glazes by using electron probe microanalysis and laser-ablated inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry. Following a statistical evaluation, the analytical results will be categorised into compositional groupings and they will be compared with the entire database of glass analyses for the Aegean, Eastern and Western Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Christian Period. Scientific analysis will shed light for the first time on the compositional characteristics of such a wide range of Roman and Early Byzantine glasses and glazes and the raw materials used for their manufacture. This will further elucidate the modes of production. The technological features of the glasses will be used to trace possible chronological developments in glass manufacture as well as inter- and intra-site variations in glass compositions. The results will also provide information about the exploitation of Aegean natural resources and a means of establishing whether local production of glass occurred. This will be set within the broader technological and socio-economic context of Crete, the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Figure 6: Graph showing manganese oxide versus alumina for glass tesserae of all colours from the Roman Villas 1-2, by weight percent.
Bibliography
Themelis, P. G. 2004a. Protobyzantini Eleutherna-Tomeas I, Volume 2, Rethymno: University of Crete.
Themelis, P. 2004b: 'The Polis. East Excavation Sector I', in N. C. Stampolidis (ed.), Eleutherna: Polis, Acropolis, Necropolis, Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art, 46-80, 229, no. 242, 302, nos. 417-418.
Organisations
Laboratories
- Microanalysis Research Facility, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham
- British Geological Survey
- Illustrator: Jane Goddard, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham
- Funded by: The Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications 2005-2007 ($53,000)