A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace, showing that Ancient Egyptian glassmaking methods were much more advanced than previously thought. Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University's School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest fully excavated glassmaking site in the world. The site, at Amarna, on the banks of the Nile, dates back to the reign of Akhanaten (1352 - 1336 B.C.), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.
It was previously thought that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East at around this time. However, the excavation team believes the evidence from Amarna shows they were making it themselves, possibly in a single stage operation. Dr Nicholson and his colleague Dr Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University demonstrated this was possible, using local sand to produce a glass ingot from their own experimental reconstruction of a furnace near the site.
The team have also discovered that the glassworks was part of an industrial complex which involved a number of other high temperature manufacturing processes. The site also contained a potter's workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and faience - a material used in amulets and architectural inlays. The site was near one of the main temples at Amarna and may have been used to produce materials in state buildings.
Dr Nicholson, who has been working at Amarna since 1983, said: "It has been argued that the Egyptians imported their glass and worked it into the artefacts that have been discovered from this time. I believe there is now enough evidence to show that skilled craftsmen could make their own glass and were probably involved in a range of other manufacturing industries as well."
Dr Nicholson has now written a book detailing the discoveries made at Amarna. Entitled Brilliant Things for Akhenaten, it is published by the Egypt Exploration Society (London) and available through Oxbow Books in the UK and The David Brown Book Company in the USA.
So what kind of applications was glass used in AE? I never new they even had glass?
Posts: 15 | From: Chicago Metro | Registered: Jan 2008
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This may sound very simple and I'm sure there are more complex implementations but I think beads was just about the first application of solid glass (vs glazing on pottery) followed by solid glass vases and such.
No doubt you've seen these faience tiles posted on our forum? Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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It seems like these archeologist have an ingrained belief that Ancient Egyptians were less advanced than the ancient societies in the near east. Since i don't understand Why it was a hold belief "that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East"? Does Egypt not contain enough sand, spar and the other substances required inorder to make glass?
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alTakruri quote: No doubt you've seen these faience tiles posted on our forum?
Well yes, but what the world generally gets to see, is this cartoonish drawing, intended to confuse the ignorant into believing that Egypt was surrounded by White looking people.
BTW – Do you have an authoritative identification of the people depicted?Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yonis2: It seems like these archeologist have an ingrained belief that Ancient Egyptians were less advanced than the ancient societies in the near east. Since i don't understand Why it was a hold belief "that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East"? Does Egypt not contain enough sand, spar and the other substances required inorder to make glass?
I agree, It seems archeology prefer most to just about everything being imported. I thought in modern archeology, scientist look for domestic origins before looking for foriegn entities.
but overall i find the glassworks to be marvelous pieces of craftmanship... but how did the glass survive 3000years? and How fragile was AE glass works?
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I have a question related to another subject... Ok from my understanding the Egyptians used copper tools to build the pyramids. When did they began to use bronze or for that fact, Iron.
-------------------- Rasol and Djehuti....what a pair of Magnificent Minds... Posts: 15 | From: Chicago Metro | Registered: Jan 2008
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Though neither set of images is a cartoonish drawing but photos of actual faience tiles, please let's not vary off the topic of glass.
If you can't contribute about glass manufacture or usage then start another thread to tout opinions on the authenticity of the images and if it's going to boil down to race and color it should go in the Ancient Egypt forum not here in the Egyptology forum..
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: ... what the world generally gets to see, is this cartoonish drawing, ...
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Well yes, but what the world generally gets to see, is this cartoonish drawing, intended to confuse the ignorant into believing that Egypt was surrounded by White looking people.
First of all, what is so "cartoonish" about those faeiance plates (and NOT drawings)?? They look no more 'cartoonish' than the ones Takruri presented. And second, how are those depictions of prisoners from foreign nations suppose to give one the impression that Egypt was "surrounded by white looking people"??
Mike you sound like you have issues.
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yonis2: It seems like these archeologist have an ingrained belief that Ancient Egyptians were less advanced than the ancient societies in the near east. Since i don't understand Why it was a hold belief "that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East"? Does Egypt not contain enough sand, spar and the other substances required inorder to make glass?
Yes, I've often wondered about this as well. Egypt as a desert country has more than enough sand as well as other materials. Perhaps such a belief is the result of the old 'Mesopotamia was first' syndrome.
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Here's a real Egyptology subject. Let's work it. Who's got anything on the materials, techniques, products, workshops, and the workmen themselves?
posted
^ You're asking for alot of specific info. I will try to find some but I hope experts like Myra can help.
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: They also sparingly used Libyan desert glass (centerpiece).
This is really beautiful alTakruri. Could you explain its meaning? Im just learning, Im not a scholar so if its a stupid question sorry. It's really fascinating though.
Posts: 1121 | From: Too crazy to look at a freakin map to find out.. | Registered: Sep 2006
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Not a stupid question at all, in fact I never thought about either an intrinsic or exestential meaning behind this piece of jewelry but for both and maybe even more meanings attach to it.
Some offhand unresearched comments and there's a lot more to the symbolism than what i Write here below.
At the bottom hang lotus and pomegranate(?) representing a land base for the Falcon/Scarab (Horus&Re combined?) which is maybe the Elder Horus (especially when considering the Wadjet above it in the boat (probably the solar bark)).
At the Falcon/Scarab's side are Solar-disked Cobra's (symbolized in the ureas -- a crown decoration, also the holy Ipet Sut & Gebal Barca of Amun based kingship). Solar-disked Cobras/ureases also ride in the Solar Bark alongsidde the Wadjet (besides symbolizing both sun and moon also serves mathematically as the descending geometric series).
Notice the objects in the Falcon/Scarab's talons. This motif finds itself repeated in adaptation as the laurel of peace and the arrows of war clutched in the American eagle's claws.
Above the Wadjet looks like a lunar crescent anchoring the unlit portion of the moon (or is it the sun?) with the pharaoh inside it in communion with Thoth and Horus Re who are offering him some virtues/aspects/attributes. At least Thoth and pharaoh have the crescent &disk symbol atop their heads and they both face Horus Re (who reanimates the dead in the underworld).
BTW -- appreciate any additional comments, corrections, or precisions to the above. I'm no authority and any helpful friendly insights are welcome and solicited.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: Not a stupid question at all, in fact I never thought about either an intrinsic or exestential meaning behind this piece of jewelry but for both and maybe even more meanings attach to it.
Some offhand unresearched comments and there's a lot more to the symbolism than what i Write here below.
At the bottom hang lotus and pomegranate(?) representing a land base for the Falcon/Scarab (Horus&Re combined?) which is maybe the Elder Horus (especially when considering the Wadjet above it in the boat (probably the solar bark)).
At the Falcon/Scarab's side are Solar-disked Cobra's (symbolized in the ureas -- a crown decoration, also the holy Ipet Sut & Gebal Barca of Amun based kingship). Solar-disked Cobras/ureases also ride in the Solar Bark alongsidde the Wadjet (besides symbolizing both sun and moon also serves mathematically as the descending geometric series).
Notice the objects in the Falcon/Scarab's talons. This motif finds itself repeated in adaptation as the laurel of peace and the arrows of war clutched in the American eagle's claws.
Above the Wadjet looks like a lunar crescent anchoring the unlit portion of the moon (or is it the sun?) with the pharaoh inside it in communion with Thoth and Horus Re who are offering him some virtues/aspects/attributes. At least Thoth and pharaoh have the crescent &disk symbol atop their heads and they both face Horus Re (who reanimates the dead in the underworld).
BTW -- appreciate any additional comments, corrections, or precisions to the above. I'm no authority and any helpful friendly insights are welcome and solicited.
Very interesting, thank you for taking time to answer my question. I always like to think about the signifigance behind an object, not just the contrustion of it. So tell me, why would people think that ancient egyptians weren't capable of glass technology?? Do most pieces of art, jewelry like this always tell a story? Are their any other good sites you can tell me about so I can see other pieces like this???
Posts: 1121 | From: Too crazy to look at a freakin map to find out.. | Registered: Sep 2006
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Hathor-headed crystal pendant Nubian Napatan Period reign of Piye, 747-716 B.C. Gold and rock crystal Height: 2 1/8 inches
Crystal ball, surmounted by gold head of Hathor crowned with disc and horns. The ball is bored vertically and has a gold disc at the base on which it stands. Ring at back of head.
From El-Kurru, 1918-1919: excavated by the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; 1921: assigned to the MFA by the division of finds with the Sudanese government.
"This unique object was found in the tomb of a queen, who, according to Reisner, belonged to the period of King Piye. The loop attached to the back of the crown suggests that the piece was an amulet. The combination of a translucent ball with a head of a goddess is unparalleled in Egypt." --Steffen Wenig, Africa in Antiquity: The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan, Brooklyn Museum, p. 180 (1978)
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Xels: Glass in Ancient Egypt Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University's School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest fully excavated glassmaking site in the world. The site, at Amarna, on the banks of the Nile, dates back to the reign of Akhanaten (1352 - 1336 B.C.), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.
Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun
Made of Gold, Lapis Lazuli, Carnelian, Quartz, Obsidian, Turquoise, Glass Paste
Egyptian Glass Paste
When glass is used as a gemstone simulant it is known as paste. The ancient Egyptians used coloured glass as gemstones. Paste stones are often foil backed to reflect more light, the foil sometimes being coloured.
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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Made of gold, silver, semi-precious stones, and glass paste
The center of this intricate pectoral is adorned with a green chalcedony scarab set in the body of a falcon: it symbolizes the sun. The front paws and tip of the tail of this composite creature support a celestial boat containing the left eye of Horus -- the emblem of the moon -- crowned by a silver moon disk with a crescent in gold. The pharaoh is depicted in the disk flanked by the moon god. Thoth and by the sun god Ra-Horakhty in a protective pose. Flowers and buds of papyrus and lotus plants, the emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt, form the base of the pectoral.
Reference: The Rizzoli Art Guides: The Treasures of Ancient Egypt (2001), page 327
I'll find some more pieces that catch my attention. .
Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Interesting that the scarab's body in one source is green chalcedony and in another is Libyan desert glass (also a product of nature, or rather a natural reaction).
I wonder which is true? I'd tend to go with the artbook as they are usually meticulously researched. Did the other source touch up the repro so that the scarab appears more clear or somewhat yellowish than it does green?
Will try to post something on Libyan desert glass soon. I think the discovery of LDG may now supercede the scarab's chalcedony identification even though that art book is dated 2001.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:... An Italian geologist has taken a close look at the beautiful translucent scarab in a pectoral, or necklace, found by Howard Carter among the treasures of Tutankhamen. Carter thought the scarab was carved of greenish-yellow chalcedony. However, measuring its refraction revealed to Vincenzo De Michele that the gem consists of Libyan desert glass. This is a fused natural glass, formed by cooling molten sand. It results from the impact of a meteorite or comet or a low-altitude explosion in the atmosphere.
What makes the scarab even more astonishing is that the nearest source of Libyan desert glass is 500 miles west of the Nile, in the Western desert. Half of this distance lies beyond any known oasis. The glass is scattered over an area 15 miles in diameter. However, no meteor crater has been found, and the event responsible for the glass remains mysterious.
quote:TUTANKHAMEN'S SCARAB IDENTIFIED AS IMPACT MELT
The fabulous treasure of Tutankhamen could help to shed new light on the ancient Egyptian civilization 77 years after the boy pharaoh's tomb was uncovered in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor.
Italian researchers discovered that the scarab at the center of King Tut's pectoral, or necklace, found by Howard Carter in chest n. 267, is not "greenish-yellow chalcedony," as Carter had said, but Libyan desert silica glass, a natural glass that exists only in the remote Great Sand Sea of Egypt -- the Western Desert.
"This is one of Earth's most remote and inhospitable regions," says Giancarlo Negro, the explorer who made the discovery together with geologist Vincenzo De Michele.
Tut's scarab shows that some communication existed between the Western Desert and the Nile Valley during the pharaoh's short reign. It is known that between 2735 and 2195 B.C., Egyptians exploited gold and emerald mines in the mountains of the Eastern Desert, between the Nile and the Red Sea.
But nobody would have imagined that desert silica glass would lie among the pharaoh's gems: In order to set it at the center of the pectoral, the ancient Egyptians would have had to trek across 500 desert miles, half of them without any oasis.
The true nature of the scarab material was revealed by measuring its index of refraction, which was then compared with other pieces of silica glass. The study will be published in the May issue of the journal Sahara.
"Its origin is probably celestial, caused by the impact on the sand of a chondritic meteorite or comet," says De Michele. "The glass is scattered over a 15-mile diameter area, but unfortunately, no crater has been found yet."
James R. Underwood Jr., professor emeritus of geology at Kansas State University, says there might not be a crater. "It could have been produced by a low-altitude explosion of an asteroid or comet. The searing heat from the explosion may have melted surficial material that then cooled quickly to form the glass," he explains.
The elaborate motif of the pectoral, symbolizing the voyage of the sun and moon through the sky, adds a new mystery -- did the ancient Egyptians guess the celestial origins of the desert glass?
By Rossella Lorenzi Copyright 1999, Discovery Online News
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: Interesting that the scarab's body in one source is green chalcedony and in another is Libyan desert glass (also a product of nature, or rather a natural reaction).
I wonder which is true? I'd tend to go with the art book as they are usually meticulously researched. Did the other source touch up the repro so that the scarab appears more clear or somewhat yellowish than it does green?
Green chalcedony: translucent, yellow-green to medium green chalcedony, the color of which is apparently dependent upon the presence of hornblende fibers and/or actinolite particles.
alTakruri, I agree with you and the art book, that it is Green Chalcedony.
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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Green chalcedony or Libyan desert glass reminds me of the Vaseline or Uranium glass you see sold in antique shops. I wonder if the scarab's body glows under the right conditions?
Uranium was a common source of yellow and green colouring for over a hundred years. In the 1940's it was banned as a glass constituent because uranium was used to make the atom bomb, there were fears for the health of glassworkers, and both US and UK Governments wanted to restrict access to uranium for military reasons.
Posts: 67 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Honi B: Green chalcedony or Libyan desert glass reminds me of the Vaseline or Uranium glass you see sold in antique shops. I wonder if the scarab's body glows under the right conditions?
Uranium was a common source of yellow and green colouring for over a hundred years. In the 1940's it was banned as a glass constituent because uranium was used to make the atom bomb, there were fears for the health of glassworkers, and both US and UK Governments wanted to restrict access to uranium for military reasons.
That's true. Very interesting
Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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Uhm "measuring its refraction revealed to Vincenzo De Michele that the gem consists of Libyan desert glass" and "The true nature of the scarab material was revealed by measuring its index of refraction, which was then compared with other pieces of silica glass. The study will be published in the May issue of the journal Sahara." modern science has over ruled Carter and the art book it seems.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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Yeah and what about those poor women who painted the old watch dials with glow in the dark uranium>
quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger:
quote:Originally posted by Honi B: Green chalcedony or Libyan desert glass reminds me of the Vaseline or Uranium glass you see sold in antique shops. I wonder if the scarab's body glows under the right conditions?
Uranium was a common source of yellow and green colouring for over a hundred years. In the 1940's it was banned as a glass constituent because uranium was used to make the atom bomb, there were fears for the health of glassworkers, and both US and UK Governments wanted to restrict access to uranium for military reasons.
That's true. Very interesting
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: However, no meteor crater has been found, and the event responsible for the glass remains mysterious.
I did some research:
Discovery of the Kebira impact crater confirms silica glass strewn over southwestern Egypt formed when a meteor collided with Earth millions of years ago.
January 22, 2007
BU Researcher Discovers Sahara’s Largest Crater
Farouk El-Baz, director of the Center for Remote Sensing, discovered the largest crater of the Sahara.
For Farouk El-Baz, a research professor and director of the Center for Remote Sensing at BU, 2006 was a landmark year. While studying satellite images with a colleague, El-Baz discovered remnants of the largest crater of the Sahara — a crater likely formed tens of millions of years ago by a meteorite. Last month Science News deemed his discovery one of the top science news stories of the year.
The double-ringed crater, measuring 31 kilometers in width, is by far the largest ever found in the Sahara. Before El-Baz’s discovery, the desert’s largest known crater was roughly 12 kilometers wide. Fittingly, El-Baz named his crater Kebira, which means “large” in Arabic and also refers to the crater’s location in the Gilf Kebir region of Egypt.
Over the past three decades, El-Baz has studied major deserts around the world. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a fellow of the Geological Society of America, which has established the Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research, to honor outstanding research in desert studies.
So how did Kebira elude scientists for so long? Because, El-Baz explains, locating a crater this size from the ground is relatively impossible, but satellite imaging now enables scientists to see what isn’t visible at the surface.
“Kebira may have escaped recognition because it is so large; equivalent to the total expanse of the Cairo urban region from its airport in the northeast to the pyramids of Giza in the southwest,” El-Baz says. “Also, the search for craters typically concentrates on small features, especially those that can be identified on the ground. The advantage of a view from space is that it allows us to see regional patterns and the big picture.”
And, since its shape points to an origin of extraterrestrial impact, it will likely prove to be the event responsible for the extensive field of “Desert Glass” – yellow-green silica glass fragments found on the desert surface between the giant dunes of the Great Sand Sea in southwestern Egypt. http://www.physorg.com/pdf11417.pdf
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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In fact, the newfound crater, in Egypt, was likely carved by a space rock that was itself roughly 0.75 miles wide in an event that would have been quite a shock, destroying everything for hundreds of miles.
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Went through a lot of non-scientific material on the LDG composition of the pectral's scarab before finding the science and altering my opinion on the scarab from chalcedony to LDG.
One thing I found out about LDG origins is that the meteor/comet event (direct hit or above ground explosion) theorized to have fused the desert sands happened appx 28 million years ago.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Xels: So what kind of applications was glass used in AE? I never new they even had glass?
The Freer Gallery of Art is the Smithsonian Institution's museum of art in Washington DC.
These are a superb example of a core-formed glass vessel. The vessel was formed by winding threads of molten glass around a core of sand, clay, and mud. Next the vessel was marvered, or rolled on a hard surface to smooth out the glass. Thin threads of colored glass were wound around the surface and pulled into decorative wavy patterns, then called a pointil across them. The vessel then needed to be marvered again to force the added threads of glass into the body. Handles were added from separate pieces or pulled out from the main body of the vessel with metal tools.
Egyptian artisans used glass to fashion small objects such as jewelry, amulets, and miniatures. They also combined glass with other materials, often metal or wood. Small vessels were fashioned as containers for costly perfumed ointments, scented oils, and cosmetics. Colored glass inlays formed in molds adorned a variety of objects, including jewelry, furniture, and coffins.
Comparison with vessels and fragments excavated from royal glass workshops suggests that many of the Freer examples were made during the reigns of the pharaohs Amenhotep III (ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E.) and Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten (ca. 1353–1335 B.C.E.). They may likewise be the products of royal workshops.
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