image: Aerial photograph of the excavation area of the Rabad of Šaqunda with the Aljama Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, in the background. view more
Credit: Image credit: Municipal Planning Department of Córdoba--University of Córdoba.
A study examines the origins of lead glassmaking in Spain. Before the eighth century, glassmaking centers on the Levantine coast and in Egypt supplied the Mediterranean with glass produced from a mixture of sand and mineral soda. Declining imports of raw glass to the western Mediterranean led to increased glass recycling and, ultimately, the development of new glassmaking traditions, in both Carolingian Europe and the Islamic world. However, the origins of medieval glassmaking in Spain remain unclear. Using mass spectrometry and isotopic analyses, Nadine Schibille and colleagues examined glass fragments from the Rabad of Šaqunda in Cordoba, the capital of Umayyad Spain. Dated between the middle of the eighth century and the first quarter of the ninth century, the glass assemblage included recycled natron-type glass from Egypt and the Levant as well as plant-ash glass from Mesopotamia, demonstrating long-distance acquisition of glass objects. Furthermore, several samples contained high levels of lead and were created locally, using material from nearby ore deposits. The findings suggest that lead glass production developed in Spain and predates the introduction of Islamic lead-glazed ceramics in Iberia by more than 50 years, according to the authors.
Article #20-03440: "Ex novo development of lead glassmaking in early Umayyad Spain," by Nadine Schibille, Jorge De Juan Ares, María Teresa Casal García, and Catherine Guerrot.
MEDIA CONTACT: Nadine Schibille, IRAMAT-CEB, CNRS, Délégation Centre Limousin Poitou-Charentes, Orléans, FRANCE; tel: (+33) 02 38 25 52 12, 0033 6 32 58 70 17; email: nadine.schibille@cnrs-orleans.fr
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences