Plant Ash Glass from First Century CE Dibba, U.A.E
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel Plant ash glass from first century CE Dibba, U.A.E Van Ham-Meert, Alicia; Claeys, Philippe; Jasim, Sabah; Overlaet, Bruno; Yousif, Eisa; Degryse, Patrick Published in: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences DOI: 10.1007/s12520-018-0611-0 Publication date: 2019 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Van Ham-Meert, A., Claeys, P., Jasim, S., Overlaet, B., Yousif, E., & Degryse, P. (2019). Plant ash glass from first century CE Dibba, U.A.E. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(4), 1431-1441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0611-0 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Oct. 2021 Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0611-0 ORIGINAL PAPER Plant ash glass from first century CE Dibba, U.A.E Alicia Van Ham-Meert 1,2 & Philippe Claeys2 & Sabah Jasim3 & Bruno Overlaet4 & Eisa Yousif3 & Patrick Degryse1,5 Received: 13 November 2017 /Accepted: 2 February 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract This paper presents the chemical and isotopic analyses of glass from the first century CE excavated in Dibba (United Arab Emirates). The elemental composition was determined using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP- OES) and micro-X-ray fluorescence (μXRF), as well as the isotopic composition using laser ablation-multi collector-ICP-mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) for Sr and solution MC-ICP-MS for Nd. This study revealed the unique elemental and isotopic composition of this material, matching the local geology and providing a strong argument for a previously unknown production site, possibly local, for this material. Two glass hues are observed in the assemblage (green and amber); both have the same chemical composition. The colour difference is due to differences in the oxidation state of the chromophores whether or not purposefully is unclear. The production of blown glass vessels shows a technology, not yet evidenced before, for this period in this region. Keywords U.A.E. Plant ash glass . Sr isotopes Introduction Situated on the Golf of Oman, Dibba was already an important port in antiquity connecting the caravan trade Present-day Dibba is situated on the border between the with a seafaring route. Goods found in Dibba indicate United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and Oman (Fig. 1). The city trade or contact with the Roman Empire, the Indian con- consists of three parts, one located in Oman, one in the emirate tinent and the Parthian empire (Jasim 2006;Seland2014). of Sharjah and one in the emirate of Fujeirah. The glass sam- In pre-Islamic times Dibba was known as the Arab Suq of ples considered in this paper were excavated in Dibba Al Jahiliyah (Jasim 2006). Hisn, in the emirate of Sharjah. Archaeological evidence links Dibba to the inland town of Mleiha, probably the seat of a regional kingdom (Overlaet et al. 2016). Mleiha was strategically located between two Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article coastal harbour settlements, ed-Dur on the West and Dibba (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0611-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. on the East coast of the Oman peninsula. Southeast Arabia is an archaeologically densely studied * Alicia Van Ham-Meert region, but only limited information is available about its [email protected] glassware, especially in pre-Islamic times. Local govern- ments strongly support archaeological research, and dur- 1 Earth and Environmental Science, Division of Geology, KU Leuven, ing the last decennia, excavations at sites such as ed-Dur, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium Kush, Mleiha and Dibba have yielded important glass 2 Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry, VUB, Pleinlaan 2, finds (Whitehouse 2000;WorrelandPrice2001). These 1050 Brussels, Belgium are generally considered to be imports from the Roman 3 Sharjah Archaeology Authority, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saqr Al Qasimi and Parthian or Sasanian empires (Whitehouse 2000; Street, Helwan, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Worrel and Price 2001),aviewwhichmayhavetobe 4 Ancient Near East and Iran, Royal Museums of Art and History, revised in light of recent analytical results. Jubelpark 10, 1000 Brussels, Belgium Large quantities of late pre-Islamic glass have been exca- 5 Faculty of Archaeology, Archaeological Sciences, Universiteit vated in Dibba at two locations close to the coastline, in a Leiden, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands collective tomb and in a settled area (Jasim 2006). Most of Archaeol Anthropol Sci Fig. 1 Map situating the main modern cities and archaeological sites in the U.A.E. the glass from the tomb has familiar BRoman^ shapes and 2007) and the burials at ed-Dur (Whitehouse 1998, 2000). decorations and is clearly imported. There are, for example, Although the shape of the plain blown unguentaria from the cast ribbed bowls and patterned mould-blown flasks with two Dibba mound is not unusual, they are distinctive because they handles (Jasim 2006). However, white opaque glass are made of markedly thicker glass. Comparable unguentaria unguentaria or small flasks are of particular interest for our with thick walls are only occasionally reported from Near study. In the settled area, fragments (including bottoms, necks Eastern sites. Specimens are known from amongst others and lips) of identical unguentaria were discovered (Fig. 2) Bahrain, Seleucia and Dura Europos. This observation alongside chunks of unworked glass (Jasim and Yousif prompted Andersen to suggest a possible Mesopotamian or 2014). In fact, unguentaria are the only vessel shape found Egyptian origin for them (Andersen 2007:34–35, type 7). with this unworked glass. The opacity of the glass, as de- Most glass finds in the region are associated to burials, and scribed in the excavation reports, most probably stems from such a large quantity in a single room is unique for the region. its heavy corrosion, rather than from an intentional The excavators identified several successive occupational opacification. The finds from the settlement are related to phases of the construction in which the glass deposit was some industrial or economic activity such as storage or trade found. The glass is associated with level III, which consisted of (raw) materials but might also point to the existence of a of a raster-like group of 52 rectangular mud-brick cell-shaped local glass production or a workshop (Jasim and Yousif 2014). Brooms^, each measuring c. 2–3by1.5–3m.Thesoilof Unguentaria are small flasks that are typically found in BRoom 21^ was scattered with glass chunks, broken vessels tombs and were used to contain small quantities of valuable and waste. Other rooms contained various other materials fluids or powders for cosmetic, aromatic or medicinal use. such as shells, stones and amphorae with bitumen (Jasim They were extremely popular and mass-produced. The most and Yousif 2014). None of these rooms or cells has doors or common are plain free-blown vessels with a globular to trian- passages, which suggest that this may have been the founda- gular body and a long neck (Andersen 2007). Pattern decorat- tion of a building or storage facility. The objects may have ed mould-blown specimens in the shape of miniature ampho- fallen down when the floor, supported by this mud brick maze, rae; dates or even fish are also found. A representative selec- collapsed. Part of this construction remains to be excavated tion comparable to the finds from Dibba is known from the and final interpretations must await further research at Dibba. contemporary Tylos period burials on Bahrain (Andersen Unfortunately, the area is partly covered by modern housing Archaeol Anthropol Sci Fig. 2 Top: drawings of flasks found in the tombs near Dibba (Jasim and Yousif 2014; Jasim 2006); bottom left: sample from room 21; bottom right unguentarium found in a tomb near Dibba (Jasim and Yousif 2014). In the absence of specific glass All the analysed samples were heavily weathered on the workshop equipment such as kilns or crucibles, we will hence- outside. Chunks of glass were chipped from the inside of the forth tentatively refer to the location as a Bstorage facility^. samples and mounted in epoxy resin. These were then The nature of the finds at the mound, amongst which are polished up to 1 μm using diamond paste. The samples are various raw materials and Roman, Indian and Mesopotamian representative of the whole assemblage within this room. storage jars, emphasises the international connections of Dibba as a trade-port (Jasim and Yousif 2014). The aim of Table 1 List of analysed sample with colour and typology this particular study is to characterise the glass to determine Sample number Colour Typology whether the raw glass is consistent in composition with one of the known primary producers or, whether a local glass pro- 001.03 Amber Chunk duction can be evidenced (no kiln has been reported), parallel 001.06 Amber Chunk to the attested import of Roman glass (Whitehouse 2000; 05.01 Amber Flask Jasim and Yousif 2014). 05.06 Green Chunk In order to compare the glass composition with known 008.05.02 Amber Flask glass making sites and to determine the manufacturing tech- 008.05.09 Green Flask nology, the elemental and isotopic composition of the glass 008.43.07 Amber Flask was determined.