Trade and glass production in Early Medieval Italy, England, and Denmark (late 6th - 11th century AD): compositional and isotopic analysis

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Bertini, Camilla (2018) Trade and glass production in Early Medieval Italy, England, and Denmark (late 6th - 11th century AD): compositional and isotopic analysis. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

Previous studies on Early Medieval Western European glass (Henderson, 1995b, 2000; Brill, 2006; Freestone and Hughes, 2006; Gaut, 2011; Willmott and Welham, 2015) suggest that natron-based raw glass and cullet were potentially made at the same workshops that were responsible for glass primary production during the Roman and Late Byzantine periods (Gorin-Rosen, 1995; Nenna et al., 1997; Freestone and Gorin-Rosen, 1999; Freestone et al., 2000; Freestone et al., 2002). Moreover, in Northern Italy plant ash-based glass (Verità and Toninato, 1990; Verità et al., 2002) is recognised in the same period as the natron to plant ash transition was occurring at the primary production workshops where such composition was originally produced (Henderson et al., 2004).

The fore mentioned analytical studies suggest a direct contact with the Levantine area for the Early Medieval period, but it has not been proven with certainty until now. Recycling and mixing practices at secondary glass workshops in Western Europe have also been investigated. Secondary workshops represent an intermediate hub between primary glass-making and the final distribution area of the finished objects, and therefore a unique chance to investigate secondary glass-working processes (recycling and mixing) that altered the original primary glass recipes at the very same place they were occurring.

To explore further the provenance of Early Medieval Western glass and secondary glass-working practices, three secondary workshops dated between the late 6th and 11th century AD have been analysed in this thesis: Comacchio (Northern Italy), Barking Abbey (England), and Ribe (Denmark).

A combination of EMPA-WDS (n= 201) and LA-ICP-MS (n= 141) analyses are used to investigate the characteristics of recipes traded between the late 6th and 11th century in these three workshops and potentially redistributed locally together with mixing and recycling practices. Trace elements also provide a means to recognise mixing practices between non-recycled end-members.

Isotopic analysis has been previously successful in identifying the provenance of earlier dated Western glass materials and linked with primary production workshops (Degryse and Schneider, 2008; Degryse et al., 2009b; Ganio et al., 2012; Gallo et al., 2014; Degryse, 2014; Maltoni et al., 2015).

For the first time Sr and Nd isotopic analysis (55 and 39 samples respectively) are applied to Early Medieval Western European glass materials, with the aim to trace the provenance of their raw materials and link them to the primary workshops in the Levant and in Egypt. The potential of Sr and Nd isotopes in underlined mixing practices are also explored.

This thesis will argue for difference in both not only basic recipes, but also in secondary glass-making practices between the three sites, which both potentially mirror the use of different trade routes to move raw glass and cullet in the three areas studied.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Henderson, Julian Loveluck, Christopher
Keywords:	Early Medieval glass, Western European glass, EMPA analysis, LA-ICP-MS analysis, provenance glass studies, Sr isotopic analysis, Nd isotopic analysis, recycled glass, secondary glass-working practices, plant ash glass, natron glass, Barking Abbey, Comacchio, Ribe
Subjects:	N Fine Arts > NK Decorative arts. Applied arts. Decoration and ornament
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Arts > School of Humanities
Item ID:	55453
Depositing User:	Bertini, Camilla
Date Deposited:	19 Apr 2024 10:17
Last Modified:	19 Apr 2024 10:17
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/55453

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