UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Exploring Value through Roman Glass from Karanis, Egypt Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nt4r3vr Author Susak Pitzer, Angela Pauline Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Exploring Value through Roman Glass from Karanis, Egypt A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures by Angela Pauline Susak Pitzer 2015 © Copyright by Angela Pauline Susak Pitzer 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Exploring Value through Roman Glass from Karanis, Egypt by Angela Pauline Susak Pitzer Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Willemina Z. Wendrich, Chair In this multi-disciplinary study of Roman glass from Karanis, Egypt, I combine archaeological, chemical compositional data, ethnoarchaeology, and historical insights to assess how objects were valued in the ancient world. The series of physical actions carried out and decisions made during the production of an artifact, in short, the chaîne opératoire, reflect shared concepts of value. By considering an object not as an end product, but as the result of a chaîne opératoire, I have been able to intimate the social agency underwriting the production process. My ethnoarchaeological study of modern glass workers in Cairo and in Hampshire, UK helps to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of glass manufacturing and identifies relationships between value and ancient technology. Following the chaîne opératoire of glass manufacturing informed by chemical, morphological, and contextual analyses, I reconstruct object biographies of recently excavated artifacts from Karanis dating primarily to the late Roman period (4th-6th centuries CE). ii Through onsite portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry analysis of recently excavated Karanis glass, I investigate the selection of raw materials. This research, combined with pXRF and electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) of museum specimens from Karanis, helps distinguish glass compositional groups. These compositional groups are identified through quantitative analysis of these data and consideration of the detection and accuracy limitations of pXRF. At least two compositional groups identified most likely represent recycled glass due to the presence of both manganese and antimony above trace levels. This research contributes to the debate regarding the location, organization, and scale of glass manufacturing during the Roman period. The combination of analytical, historical, and archaeological evidence allows me to assemble the life history of certain glass vessel types--unguentaria, rectangular bottles, and oil flasks—demonstrating relationships among phases of the chaîne opératoire of glass manufacturing and the social function of objects. In the late Roman period, an age when blown glass was commoditized and available to a broader demographic, only particular objects were considered luxury items. Karanidians tried to set themselves apart by using high-quality colorless oil flasks in the public sphere without ignoring the utility of glass as a container for oils and other commodities. For glass vessels that were most likely valued for the materials inside them rather than for the glass objects themselves, manufacturers preferred to use recycled glass. The diverse, yet complementary research techniques employed in this study expose the interplay between objects and social phenomena. iii The dissertation of Angela Pauline Susak Pitzer is approved. Kathlyn Cooney Paul Nicholson Dwight Read David Scott Willemina Z. Wendrich, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv Dedicated to my parents, Gary and Linda Susak and my loving family v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... xvii Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................ xxii Chapter 1: Introduction and Theoretical Background .................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Value Theory .................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research Strategies .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3.1 Object Biographies.................................................................................................... 4 1.3.2 Life History Approach .............................................................................................. 5 1.3.3 Contextual Approach ................................................................................................ 5 1.3.4 Ethnoarchaeology ..................................................................................................... 8 1.3.5 Chaîne Opératoire .................................................................................................... 9 1.4 Classification of Karanis Glass: Theory and Methods ................................................... 11 1.5 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2: Historic and Archaeological Background ................................................................... 14 2.1 Karanis Background ....................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Karanis Excavation History ........................................................................................... 16 2.3 Ancient Glass ................................................................................................................. 20 2.4 Glass Production in Alexandria...................................................................................... 24 2.5 Other Glass Production Evidence in Egypt .................................................................... 28 2.6 Local Origin of Karanis Glass? ...................................................................................... 29 2.7 The Karanis Glass Assemblage ...................................................................................... 31 2.8 URU Fayum Project ....................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 3: Background of Present Day Glass Workers ................................................................ 37 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 Cairene Glass Workers ................................................................................................... 37 3.2.1 Workshop 1 ............................................................................................................. 39 3.2.2 Workshop 2 ............................................................................................................. 42 3.3 Middleman ..................................................................................................................... 46 3.4 Roman Glassmakers ....................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 4: Ethnoarchaeology and the Chaîne Opératoire of Glass Manufacturing ..................... 49 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 49 4.2 Ethnoarchaeological Study: Cairene Glass Workers ..................................................... 49 4.2.1 Methods and Data Collection.................................................................................. 49 vi 4.2.2 Challenges and Biases............................................................................................. 51 4.2.3 Deceptions to Impress ............................................................................................. 53 4.2.4 Results: Chaîne Opératoire, Cairene Glass Workers ........................................... 56 4.3 Ethnoarchaeological Study: Roman Glassmakers.......................................................... 59 4.3.1 Methods................................................................................................................... 59 4.3.2 Chaîne Opératoire, Roman Glassmakers ............................................................... 60 4.4 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 5: Compositional Analysis of Vessel Glass from Karanis .............................................. 66 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 66 5.2 Glass Raw Materials and Fluxing Agents during the Roman Period ............................. 67 5.3 Roman Colorless Glass and Evidence of Recycling ...................................................... 69 5.4 “Naturally Colored Glasses” and Evidence of Recycling .............................................. 71 5.5 PXRF Background ........................................................................................................