A compositional analysis of Roman and early post-Roman glass and glassworking waste from selected British sites. Towards an understanding of the technology of glass-making through analysis by inductively-coupled plasma spectrometry of glass and glass production debris from the Roman/Saxon sites at York, Leicester, Mancetter and Worcester.
Publication date
2010-07-16T15:57:22ZAuthor
Jackson, Caroline MarySupervisor
Not namedKeyword
Roman glassPost-Roman glass
Great Britain
Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICPS)
glassworking waste
Leicester, England
Worcester, England
Coppergate, York, England
Fishergate, York, England
Mancetter, England
Rights

The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Institution
University of BradfordDepartment
Department of Archaeological SciencesAwarded
1992
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study is concerned with the compositional analysis of Roman and early post-Roman glass from both domestic assemblages and the remains derived from glass working and producing sites in Britain, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICPS). Samples analysed were from glassworking waste from Mancetter (midsecond century), Leicester (third century) and Worcester (first to third centuries), glass production debris, probably manufactured from the raw materials, in conjuncton with a domestic assemblage, from Coppergate (first to fourth centuries, or possibly later), and a domestic assemblage from Fishergate (spanning both the Roman and immediate post- Roman periods). All the glass analysed was shown to be of a typical and uniform soda-limesilica composition, except for a small number of vessel fragments from York which were higher in calcium. Any compositional differences between blue-green glasses typologically dated either to the Roman or Saxon periods, were found not to be consistent. Analysis of the colourless glass showed that the majority appeared to be actively decolorized using antimony, in conjunction with apparent differences In the compositions of the raw materials, when compared to glass of the same date in other 0 colours. Compositional differences between melted waste from Mancetter, Leicester and Worcester, were apparent, but not to an extent which allowed characterization to be successful. Analysis of glassmelting pots from Coppergate showed some high temperature glassworking (and possibly glassmaking) could have occurred. Other debris, thought to be indicative of glassmaking was also analysed and compared to the composition of the Roman domestic assemblage.Type
ThesisQualification name
PhDCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Aspects of later Roman pottery assemblages in Northern England. Investigation of Roman pottery assemblages and supply with emphasis on East Yorkshire industries, and of the potential of neutron activation analysis for fabric characterisation.Jones, Rick F.J.; Millett, M.; Evans, Jeremy (University of BradfordPostgraduate School of Studies in Physics., 2011-09-26)This study has attempted to examine third and fourth century pottery supply in northern England together with other aspects of pottery assemblages in the region. The pottery kilns of the East Yorkshire industries have been characterised by neutron activation analysis which has proved reasonably successful in discriminating between them. Neutron activation analysis has also been utilised to attempt to check visually identified fabric groups and to help isolate other fabrics. This has been of varying success. Quantified data has been collected from 15 sites across the north and the limited published quantitative data have been utilised to examine the distribution, marketing and competition between fabric types in the region. Examination of functional variations through time between different types of site has also been undertaken as has that of variations in the quantity of finewares through time and between different types of site together with an attempt at quantifying decoration and examining trends in this. Pottery supply to the northern frontier area would seem to have been organised by different mechanisms in different periods. In the second century much of the pottery used on the frontier would appear to have been produced by the military themselves whilst in the third century and earlier fourth century free market mechanisms would seem to have operated, but in the late fourth-early fifth centuries some form of 'military contract' would appear to have taken over supply. Functional variations between different types of site have been identified with rural sites, turrets and Signal Stations sharing a major emphasis on the jar as the basic ceramic form and more complex settlement types having more diversified functional groups. The distribution of finewares also seems to be concentrated on more complex settlement types. It is apparent that there are consistent differences between the East Yorkshire region and the rest of the study area which may well reflect differences extending back into the Iron Age. Similarly there seem to be indications of some 'de-Romanisation' in late Roman assemblages but this does not develop in the fifth century, when nearly all the strands of evidence of Romano-British material culture disappear very rapidly.
-
Prehistoric settlement in northern CumbriaMcCarthy, Michael R. (2000)
-
A post-Roman sequence at Carlisle CathedralMcCarthy, Michael R.; Archibald, M.; Batey, C.E.; Batt, Catherine M.; Brooks, C.; Buckberry, Jo; Cherry, J.; Evans, Adrian A.; Gaunt, G.; Keevill, G.; et al. (2014)Excavations in 1988 revealed a stratigraphic sequence extending from the later Roman period to the twelfth century. Of particular interest and importance is a collection of Viking-Age metalwork which, with other material, sheds light on settlement in Carlisle before the arrival of the Normans in 1092.