Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (1) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.1.106-115

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The Chemical Analysis of Glass Samples
from Roman Era Cemeteries in the Crimean Piedmont

I.N. Khrapunov¹, A.A. Stoyanova², T.N. Lubkova³, and S.B. Shabanov⁴

¹Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Pr. Akademika Vernadskogo 4, Simferopol, 295007, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology of the Crimea, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Vernadskogo 2, Simferopol, 295007, Russia

³Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1, Moscow, 119991, Russia

⁴“Heritage of Millennia” Charitable Foundation, Chernyshevskogo 10a, Simferopol, 295051, Russia

We assessed the chemical composition of more than 40 fragments of glass vessels from the Roman Period cemeteries in the Crimean piedmont— Druzhnoe, Neyzats, and Opushki, using X-ray spectral microanalysis. The results suggest that the glass from all the cemeteries belonged to the soda-lime-silica group, based on natural soda. The samples fall in glass groups "Levantine I", "HIMT", and "Roman glass", typical of central and peripheral Roman manufacture in 0-500AD. Most vessels are made of glass with a high content of iron, manganese, and titanium, as in the HIMT group, most common in Europe since 300 AD. The likely workshops are those in the Syro-Palestinian area, northern Egypt, and Sinai, pointing to contacts of the northern Pontic with other parts of the Greco-Roman world. The composition of glass from all the three cemeteries is the same, suggesting that the sub-mountainous Crimea imported glassware from the same workshops.

Keywords: Roman glass ware, chemical composition, X-ray spectroscopic microanalysis, Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, ancient cemeteries