Raw Glass and the Production of Glass Vessels at Late Byzantine Apollonia-Arsuf, Israel

Abstract

This article supplements an earlier contribution to the Journal of Glass Studies (v. 46, 2004, pp. 51-66) and attempts to verify, by archeological evidence and chemical analysis, the assumption that late Byzantine Apollonia-Arsuf was a major center for the making of both primary and secondary glass in the sixth and seventh centuries. Excavations (carried out in 2006) in the newly opened Area M at the site unearthed a dump of that dare, in which considerable numbers of raw glass chunks and fragmentary glass vessels were recovered.In the newly opened Area O, the remains of another raw glass furnace were discovered, which brings the number of late Byzantine raw glass furnaces found at Apollonia-Arsuf to four, being the only primary glass installations in Palestine that have been confirmed as operating in the late Byzantine period. The various tanks produced glass of similar chemical composition, using the same recipes and the same raw materials. Glass vessels from Area M show a relatively right compositional cluster, suggesting that they were produced in a single workshop. Chemical analysis strongly suggests that the raw glass produced at the site was also used to make the glass vessels that were found there.To date, only Apollonia-Arsuf has yielded evidence, although indirect, for the coexistence of primary and secondary industries in Palestine.

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