ANCIENT EGYPT 2023

Was Tutankhamen a businessman?

The evidence would suggest he and his contemporaries used trading routes all over the known world.

Egyptian glass has been discovered in Scandinavia and Germany.

The main evidence lies in the famous Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey. Chemical analysis of glass throughout the Late Bronze Age is revealing more about the trade routes between nations, including Egypt.

For more, read The Glass Road in the new issue of Nile Magazine at: https://www.nilemagazine.com.au/.

Now, let us have an in-depth look at isotopic analysis!

Information on LBA glass trading routes using isotopic analysis on Amarna glass

If a scientific method, such as isotopic analysis was used on glass from Amarna, the results could yield more information about LBA glass trading routes (Henderson et.al. 2005, pp.665-73). Particular types of isotopic analysis, namely those of oxygen, strontium and neodymium, in combination with one another could be used now to answer questions about glass from Amarna and its export (Varberg et al. 2019, p.5).

Isotopes are atoms with varying numbers of neutrons. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines an isotope as ‘‘a form of an atom that has different atomic weight from other forms of the same atom but the same chemical structure’’. The nature of isotopic analysis distinguishes and separates isotopes within materials. Its analytical methodology involves the use of such tools as spectrometers and radiation counters which have also been involved in the study of glass from the LBA (Shortland and Eremin 2006, p.582). Isotopic analysis may be conducted on almost any kind of substance, including vitreous materials and assist in potentially distinguishing elements within materials. The geographic location of materials and their age can also be obtained from such studies (Shortland and Tite 2000, p.143).

Isotopic analysis of glass

Isotopic analysis can give information on any aspect of glass and has already been used with success on pigments within ancient Egyptian glass (Weatherhead and Buckley 1989, pp.202-240). Glass from Egypt was coloured in various hues, namely blue, yellow, green, black, white, red and purple. Colouration consisted of materials used in the process; for instance, light blue was made from copper, while darker blue was manufactured from cobalt (Tite et al. 1984, pp. 215-242). Yellow was created from lead antimonate, while an opaque yellow included copper within lead antimonate. Green was a mixture of pigments used in blue and yellow. Black was formed from manganese, ferric compounds or copper. White was created from calcium antimonate; red from copper oxides, while purple was made with manganese salts (Tite et al., 1984: Weatherhead, 1989).

Glass hues are important in isotopic analysis as the elements of these colourants may be tracked to specific geographic locations (Shortland 2000, pp.141-151). For this reason, lead isotopic analysis has been useful in the study of colourants with high lead content, such as copper red and antimonate yellow (Leslie et al. 2006, p.254).

The analysis of colours in glass can be potentially important. If glass objects excavated in Egypt were composed of elements originating from that country, it could probably be deduced that the glass was coloured in Egypt. However, it does not necessarily mean glass was manufactured in the same place, since raw glass could potentially be smelted and mixed with colourants. There are also issues with certain types of isotopic analysis, such as lead, which is why it is important to choose the right types of isotopic analysis, for instance, oxygen with strontium and laser fluorination (Leslie et al. 2006, pp.253-270: Henderson et al. 2005, pp.665–673).

Selection of the correct type of isotopic analysis in glass studies is therefore important. Oxygen, neodymium and strontium isotopic analysis, which may be employed in the study of glass for the purpose of discovering the elements and their origins, has already been conducted on glasses from various historical periods (Brill, 1970: Leslie et al., 2006: Henderson, 2005). This type of analysis can identify raw materials used in the making of glass, which in turn, can also accurately pinpoint the geographical origin of glass materials (Moorey 1994: Rehren 2008). Projects to separate elements of glass for study have been conducted this century, (Shortland and Eremin 2006: Henderson et al., 2005). Such studies may be helpful in answering common questions about glass from Amarna. For instance, it could establish whether Akhenaten’s artisans made objects from raw glass manufactured in Egypt; or whether it was imported from foreign lands, or if there was a combination of both sources (Moorey 2001: Rehren 2008). If glass was manufactured in Egypt, it could also be ascertained whether it was onsite at Amarna, or in other Egyptian locations and then transported to Akhenaten’s capital, perhaps with its artisans (Moorey 2001, pp. 1-14).

If it could be established that glass was manufactured at Amarna other questions, with the right scientific analysis, could also be answered. Matters such as whether the materials were indigenous to the site; imported from other areas in Egypt, or even from overseas, would be known.

Shortcomings of Archaeology

Archaeology on its own cannot provide answers. Glass being worked and glass manufactured on a site are two entirely different processes and cannot be answered by excavation alone. The scholarly debate as to whether glass was ever manufactured at Amarna is largely based on archaeological evidence, such as glass objects and fragments found on site, including remnants of smelting operations (Nicholson 2007, pp. 27-82). Without investigation of the constituent elements within glass the correct information cannot be obtained and, with it, conclusive answers. Modern analysis is also urgently required in relation to material previously discovered in excavations, for example, those of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Tite and Shortland 2008, p.21). Early excavations at Amarna lack precision of detail which make ascertaining the location of such things as glass factories, mentioned by Flinders Petrie, impossible today (Petrie 1894, pp.25-31).

Inaccuracies in old reports also confuse materials such as faience, glass and glazed steatite (Moorey 1994, pp.193-202). All three types of materials look alike when weathered. The exception is blue frit as it retains its colour (Tite and Shortland 2008, p.21). As the description of glass products in reports from previous centuries is often inaccurate it means that the information is unreliable. The terms are general and interchangeable which means the nature, and therefore the significance of the finds, is unclear. The solution would be to reanalyse materials labelled during archaeological excavations which occurred before the inventions of ceramic and glass analysis (Tite and Shortland 2008, p.21). If glass from previous excavations at Amarna could be identified accurately, and analysed for the origins of raw materials, this could provide new insights into glass from that period and further establish LBA glass trading routes. It would be possible to pinpoint the origins of the glass which travelled through the Mediterranean and as far as Scandinavia (Varberg et al. 2015, p.169).

Reanalysis, or perhaps more accurately, analysis for the first time, would be a huge project and equivalent in scale to several new excavations. The positive aspect is that these finds are already in museums and academic institutions. This means a saving of both human and financial resources. Further information obtained would add to the knowledge of LBA glass and its trading routes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Brill, R. (1970) Lead and oxygen isotopes in ancient objects, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A269, pp.143-164.

• Henderson, J., J.A. Evans, H. Sloane, M.J. Leng & C. Doherty, (2005) The use of oxygen, strontium and lead isotopes to provenance ancient glasses in the Middle East. Journal of Archaeological Science 32, pp. 665–73.

• Leslie, K.A., Freestone, I.C., Lowry, D. and Thirlwall, M. (2006) The Provenance and technology of Near Eastern glass: oxygen isotopes by laser fluorination as a complement to strontium, Archaeometry, Vol. 48, pp.253-270.

• Moorey, P., (1994) Ancient Mesopotamian materials and industries: The archaeological Evidence, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp.193-202.

• Moorey, P., (2001) The mobility of artisans and opportunities for technology transfer between western Asia and Egypt in the Late Bronze Age, in The Social Context of Technological Change: Egypt and the Near East, 1650–1550 BC, ed. A.J. Shortland. Oxford: Oxbow, 1–14.

• Nicholson, P., (2007) Brilliant things for Akhenaten: the production of glass, vitreous materials and pottery at Amarna site O45.1, Egyptian Exploration Society, London.

• Petrie, W. (1894) Tell el-Amarna, Methuen, London.

• Rehren, Th., (2008) A review of factors affecting the composition of early Egyptian glasses and faience: alkali and alkali earth oxides. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, pp.1345-1354.

• Shortland, A., (2000) Vitreous Materials at Amarna: The Production of Glass and Faience in 18th Dynasty Egypt. Archaeopress, Oxford, England.

• Shortland, A., Tite, M., (2000) Raw Materials of Glass from Amarna and Implications for the Origins of Egyptian Glass, Archaeometry, Vol. 42. pp.141-151.

• Shortland, A., Eremin, K., (2006) The analysis of second millennium glass from Egypt and Mesopotamia, Part 1: new WDS analyses. Archaeometry 48(4), pp.581-603.

• Tite, M. S., Bimson, M. and Cowell, M.R. (1984) Technological examination of Egyptian blue, Archaeological Chemistry III (ed. Lambert, J.B.) pp. 215-242, American Chemical Society Advances in Chemistry Series No 205, Washington, DC.

• Tite, M., Shortland, A., (2008) Production technology of Faience and Related early Vitreous materials, Oxford University School of Archaeology, Monograph 72.

• Varberg, J.; Gratuze, B. & Kaul, F. (2015) Between Egypt, Mesopotamia and Scandinavia: Late Bronze Age glass beads found in Denmark, Journal of Archaeological Science 54, pp.168-181.

• Varberg, J.; Kaul, F. and Gratuze, B. (2019) Bronze Age Glass and Amber Evidence of Bronze Age long distance exchange. Adoranten, pp. 5-29.

• Weatherhead F., Buckley, A., (1989) Artists’ pigments from Amarna, Amarna reports V (ed. Kemp, B.J.), Egypt Exploration Society, London, pp. 202-40.