Glass and Glass Production in the Near East during the Iron Age: Evidence from objects, texts and chemical analysis

by: Schmidt, K.

Glass and Glass Production in the Near East during the Iron Age: Evidence from objects, texts and chemical analysis examines the history of glass in Iron Age Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions (1000–539 BCE). This is the first monograph to cover this region and period comprehensively and in detail and thus fills a significant gap in glass research. It focusses on identification of the different types of glass objects and their respective manufacturing techniques from the the Iron Age period. Both glass as material and individual glass objects are investigated to answer questions such as as how raw glass (primary production) and glass objects (secondary production) were manufactured, how both these industries were organised, and how widespread glass objects were in Mesopotamian society in the Iron Age period. Such a comprehensive picture of glass and its production in the Iron Age can only be achieved by setting archaeological data in relation to cuneiform texts, archaeometric analyses and experimental-archaeological investigations. With regard to the different disciplines incorporated into this study, an attempt was made to view them together and to establish connections between these areas.

About the Author
KATHARINA SCHMIDT obtained MA in Near Eastern Archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität of Munich in 2012, with a dissertation on glazed Neo-Assyrian vessels from Upper Mesopotamia. In 2013 she started her PhD as a member of the Graduate School ?Distant Worlds? at the same university. As a visiting researcher, she studied at University College, London, and acquired additional knowledge in the use of chemical analyses – in particular with regard to glass. In 2016 she completed her PhD at Munich with a dissertation on glass and glassmaking in the Iron Age period. As an archaeologist she worked on excavations in Syria (Tell Halaf) and Turkey (Sirkeli Höyük, Dülük Baba Tepesi). Since 2016 she has been director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman, Jordan, where she carries out various research and excavation projects, above all the excavations at Tall Zirā´a.

Glass and Glass Production in the Near East during the Iron Age: Evidence from objects, texts and chemical analysis

by: Schmidt, K.

• ISBN-13: 9781789691542 / 978-1-78969-154-2
• ISBN-03: 1789691540 / 1-78969-154-0
• Archaeopress, Oxford, 2019