Vorträge - Universität Salzburg

Abstracts Primus Conventus Austriacus Archaeometriae - MMIX
Sr-Nd radiogenic isotopes as a means of reconstructing ancient glass
economy
Patrick Degryse
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Geology, Centre for Archaeological
Sciences, Celestijnenlaan 200E, bus 2408, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium, Patrick.Degryse@ees.kuleuven.be
For all archaeological artefactual evidence, the study of the provenance and trade of raw
materials must be based on archaeometry, the application of mineralogical and geochemical
techniques to archaeological problems. Whereas the study of the provenance and trade of
stone and ceramics is already well advanced, this is not the case for ancient glass. Substantial
databases of major element analyses of glass exist, but meaningful groupings with respect to
the geographical origin of the mineral resources have rarely been possible. For example, all
Roman glass was found to be relatively homogeneous with little variation in major element
composition. However, some elements like lime, iron, magnesium and alumina are useful, as
they can be related to the concentrations of specific minerals (for example, feldspars, clays) in
the glassmaking sand. Conversely, recent advances have shown that the use of radiogenic
isotopes, specifically those of strontium and neodymium, allows developing new approaches
for provenance determination of primary glass. The coincidence of one of the ancient world’s
most productive glassmaking areas with an isotopically distinctive geochemistry is proving a
fruitful testing ground for isotopic studies of glass.
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