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A Review of Mid-Second Millennium B.C. Egyptian Glass Technology at Tell El-Amarna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Pamela Vandiver ,
Charles Swann  and
David Cranmer
Pamela Vandiver
Affiliation:
CAL, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20360
Charles Swann
Affiliation:
Bartol Research Inst., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
David Cranmer
Affiliation:
Ceramics Division, N.I.S.T., Gaithersburg, MD 20899
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Abstract

In 1891 and 1892 Sir Flinders Petrie excavated glass in various stages of processing from the palace dumps at the fourteenth century B.C. site of Tell el-Amarna, a city built by artisans practicing the highest quality possible in their crafts in order to adorn the new capitol of Tutankhaman and thereby legitimize his rule(1). In order to learn more about the making and working of this glass, we analyzed samples in several stages of processing for composition, processing temperature, viscosity, extent of crystal growth and microscopic evidence of forming methods. Our findings accord with microscopic evidence from complete vessels, an unpublished manuscript on glass finds by the excavator, Sir Flinders Petrie(2) and previous work of the British glass technologist, W.E.S. Turner(3).

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 185: Symposium G – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II , 1990 , 609
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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