Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 117, Issue 28, Pages 16243-16249Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2003440117
Keywords
lead glass; lead isotopes; technological innovation; recycling
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council under the European Union [647315]
- European Research Council (ERC) [647315] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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This study investigates glass finds from the Iberian Peninsula as a proxy for identifying the mechanisms underlying technological transformations and innovation in the wake of the Arab conquest in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. High-resolution laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry data combined with lead isotope analyses of a precisely dated (mid-eighth century to 818 CE) glass assemblage from the Rabad of Saqunda in Cordoba, capital of Umayyad Spain, enabled us to trace the origins of an Iberian glassmaking industry and to unambiguously link it to the exploitation of local raw materials. The analytical data reveal increased recycling, some isolated imports of Islamic plant ash glasses from Mesopotamia, and, most notably, the development of a new type of glassmaking technology that resorted to the use of lead slag from silver and lead mining and processing in the region around Cordoba. The production of this type of lead glass from Saqunda was short-lived and was subsequently refined by introducing additional fluxing agents. The technological innovation of Islamic glassmaking in Spain evidently drew inspiration from adjacent high temperature technologies. The revival of glass and the development of a local glassmaking tradition was indirectly related to the wider processes of Islamization, such as the introduction of glazed ceramics that are compositionally related to the lead glasses from Saqunda.
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