ROLLAND Joëlle.

Glass in Celtic Europe. Archaeometric, technological, and social approaches to a prestigious craft in the Late Iron Age.

Sidestone Press

€85,00

N° d'inventaire	23984
Format	21 x 28
Détails	377 pages, 94 color plates, 130 figures, paperback.
Publication	Leiden, 2021
Etat	Nine
ISBN	9789088909955

During the last four centuries BC, continental European societies of the so-called La Tène culture developed their own glass crafts. This period of striking economic and social change, when urban centers and hierarchical housing networks were deployed, also saw an intensification and diversification of artisanal and agricultural production. From agriculture to metallurgy, the study of La Tène artisanal specializations reveals major technical and economic changes and clarifies the factors involved in these socio-economic transformations.

Dedicated almost exclusively to body adornments, Celtic glass craftsmanship produces beads and bracelets. Long considered as cheap objects, trinkets that could only be feminine or childish, these objects are considered here from their economic and social aspects. The multidisciplinary study method developed, combining the contextual study of objects, the elementary analysis of materials and the exploration of techniques with glass artisans, has made it possible for the first time to approach these objects throughout their entire production chain. From the manufacture of raw glass in the Near East to the wrists of Celtic populations, the study of Celtic glass ornaments now reveals the exchange networks and know-how that societies have developed for their production. This rediscovery of La Tène glass craftsmanship allows us to approach the values and sign functions of glass ornaments, redefining these objects as expensive ornaments, intended for the social distinction of individuals, but whose production and consumption also seem to evolve in parallel with the hierarchization of La Tène society.

INTRODUCTION
FIRST PART – THE PRODUCTIONS OF GLASSES RAW AT SECOND AGE OF IRON : RECIPES AND DEVELOPMENTS

Chapter 1 – Research on raw glass
1.1 Archaeological data on ancient raw glass: ingots, wrecks and primary workshops
1.1.a The Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age
1.1.b The Second Iron Age
1.1.c The Roman period
1.2 Historiography of archaeometric analyses on glass
1.2.a A material, materials: what is glass?
1.2.b Silicas and sodas in ancient glasses: sands and salts from the Orient
1.3 Glass from the Second Iron Age: what do we know?
1.3.a Primary workshops in the second Iron Age: rare witnesses
1.3.b The development of analyses of glasses from the second Iron Age
1.3.c Two distinct origins of sands in the glasses of the second Iron Age

Chapter 2 – Analytical Methodology
2.1 Objectives, methods and analysis protocols
2.2 Presentation of the corpus of analyses
2.3 Analytical and experimental study of the corpus of raw glass fragments
2.3.a Raw glass from wrecks: variability of compositions
2.3.b Experimentation on archaeological glass: approach to elementary modifications in glasses during their remelting

Chapter 3 – Classification of glass recipes: the major components
Foreword: interpretation biases to take into account when reading analyses
3.1 Main composition groups
3.1.a Egyptian glass groups (High Zr, Low Sr): definition based on the corpus of blue glasses
3.1.b The Syrian-Palestinian glass groups (High Sr, Low Zr): definition based on the corpus of blue glasses
3.1.c The groups of Syrian-Palestinian and Egyptian glasses in the corpus of colorless glasses, with so-called natural coloring, purple, brown, green and in the corpus of yellow and white opacified glasses
3.1.d First remarks on the main groups
3.2 Detect and understand recycling and mixing practices
3.3 Statistical approach to the chronological evolutions of the main compositions
3.4 Summary of the main groups of compositions and their chronological developments

Chapter 4 – Dyes, Opacifiers and Bleaches
Foreword: nuances of what color can tell us
4.1 Glass colorants
4.1.a Blue glass colorants
4.1.b Dyes in purple glasses
4.1.c Amber glass colorants
4.1.d Green glass colorants
4.1.e Black iron glasses
4.2 Bleaching agents
4.2.a. Antimony oxide discolored glasses
4.2.b. Glasses discolored with a mixture of antimony and manganese oxides
4.2.c Manganese oxide discolored glasses
4.2.d An evolution of bleaching recipes in the second Iron Age
4.3 Opacifiers
4.3.a Antimony-based opacifiers
4.3.b Tin-based opacifiers

Chapter 5 – Summary of raw glass production in the second Iron Age
5.1 Historical and methodological approaches
5.2 Summary of the analytical study

SECOND PART – TRANSFORM THE GLASS , PRODUCE OF THE SET

Chapter 1 – Historiography of Research on Celtic Glass Crafts
1.1 Research and studies on the production of Celtic glass ornaments
1.1.a Glass bracelets and beads in the chronological construction of the La Tène period
1.1.b The development of specialized studies
1.2 The typochronology of Celtic glass productions
1.2.a Typo-chronology
1.2.b Return to type 1
1.3 To learn more about the production of Celtic glass ornaments
1.3.a The question of workshops
1.3.b Manufacturing techniques in historiography

Chapter 2 – For a technological approach to Celtic glass craftsmanship
2.1 Objectives
2.1.a Technical reading
2.1.b Anthropological reading
2.2 A program for the reconstruction of Celtic glass ornament manufacturing techniques: between reproduction, learning and experimentation
2.2.a First tests
2.2.b Ethnographic sources
2.3 From the acquisition of knowledge to the expression of know-how
2.4 Technical points on experimental productions

Chapter 3 – Reconstructing the operational chains

3.1 The operating chain of glass bead manufacturing
3.1.a Recognition and diagnosis of traces related to pearl manufacturing techniques
3.1.b Typical operating sequence for the manufacture of a pearl
3.2 The operational chain of manufacturing glass bracelets
3.2.a Recognition and diagnostics of traces related to the shaping of a bracelet
3.2.b The operational chain of manufacturing a bracelet: a strict framework to know
3.3 Decorations of glass beads and bracelets
3.3.a Editing the profile
3.3.b Decoration with glass nets
3.3.c Creating stitch decorations
3.3.d Creation of yellow background decorations
3.3.e Bud making
3.4 Across the operational chains: know-how and specialization
3.4.a Technological classification of typological groups
3.4.b Decorative systems and know-how: five centuries of evolution

Chapter 4 – Recognizing and finding the workshop
4.1 Reconstruct the workshop to better identify the heating structures
4.1.a Ethnographic models of glass furnaces dedicated to the production of ornaments
4.1.b Archaeological model for the production of ornaments
4.1.c Testing production on a wood-fired oven: the implications
4.2 Tools and waste
4.2.a Metal and lithic tools required for the production of glass ornaments
4.2.b Recognize waste from Celtic glass crafts
4.3 Locate the workshops
4.3.a Identify and locate production indices
4.3.b Celtic glass workshops: location proposals
4.3.c Tools to be developed to locate workshops: identification of regional productions and dissemination of know-how.

Chapter 5 – Summary of the production systems of ornaments
5.1 Summary of the technical approach: reconstructed technical systems
5.2 The Celtic Glassmaker's Workshop

THIRD PART – DISTRIBUTIONS AND CONSUMPTION

Chapter 1 – Produce, have produced and distribute glass ornaments
1.1 Quantify production and its evolution
1.1.a Quantitative evolution of production
1.1.b The remains of a proto-industry?
1.2 Chronological evolution of the diffusion of glass ornaments
1.2.a Changing axes of exchange
1.2.b A changing territory
1.3 Producing, making produce: the relationship between crafts and elites
1.3.a Control production
1.3.b Control distribution

Chapter 2 – Wearing Glass as a Distinction
2.1 Objective: read and understand the functions of signs on glass ornaments
2.2 An elite adornment, a marker of wealth
2.2.a A high added value material
2.2.b. Changing consumption and demand
2.2.c Wealth and luxury
2.2.d Economy of ostentatious goods
2.3 Glass adornment: a marker of collective and individual identities
2.3.a Peoples and adornments
2.3.b Show color
2.3.c Each wrist has its own adornment
2.3.d Bracelets to wear

Chapter 3 – Summary of the sign functions of glass