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Electron Microprobe Analysis of 9th–12th Century Islamic Glass from C órdoba, S pain
Author(s) -
Duckworth C. N.,
Llave R. Córdoba,
Faber E. W.,
Edwards D. J. Govantes,
Henderson J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
archaeometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-4754
pISSN - 0003-813X
DOI - 10.1111/arcm.12079
Subject(s) - electron microprobe , parallels , impurity , silica glass , mineralogy , microprobe , islam , empa , geology , ancient history , archaeology , metallurgy , materials science , chemistry , geography , history , composite material , engineering , mechanical engineering , organic chemistry
Twenty‐six samples from domestic assemblages of 9th–12th century C órdoba were subjected to electron microprobe analysis. The results reveal two main compositional types. The first, encountered in 13 of the samples, seems to result from the combination of plant ashes with high‐impurity sand, and has some contemporary parallels from S yria and E gypt. The second type is a lead–soda–silica glass, encountered in a relatively high proportion of the glasses (11 of the 26 sampled), possibly formed by the addition of lead metal to existing glasses and with very few known parallels. These are among a very small number of results available to date on the chemical composition of glasses from medieval S pain, and the presence of a high proportion of lead–soda–silica glasses is particularly interesting, possibly indicating a technological practice unique to, or originating in, the western M uslim world.