Approaches to interrogate the erased histories of recycled archaeological objects

Jonathan R Wood

doi:10.1111/arcm.12756

Abstract

AbstractAny archaeological artefact made from recyclable material may have been recycled before deposition. Three approaches are presented which have identified recycling in the archaeological record: (1) the application of log ratio analyses to investigate compositional data indicates that Roman glass was recycled and reapplied as a glaze on Parthian pottery, thereby suggesting that the paucity of Parthian and Sasanian glass in the archaeological record is due to recycling; (2) linear mixing lines on plots that combine compositional and isotopic data suggest that most silver found in the Iron Age hoards of the southern Levant was mixed, with vertical mixing lines indicating that some of it was melted down hastily in times of unrest; and (3) histograms of compositional data provide evidence of recycling accompanied by dilution of cobalt‐blue glass in New Kingdom Egypt, potentially because the colourant was not available in later periods, thereby questioning the accepted provenance of the cobalt source. It is considered that application of these approaches can contribute to a better understanding of the motivations behind recycling in prehistory.

Highlights

Until recently, recycling was regarded as being not significant in prehistory
The presence of Roman glass applied as a glaze on Parthian pottery clearly indicates that glass, probably discarded after being broken, was recycled by Parthian potters for this purpose
It could suggest that the paucity of Parthian and Sasanian glass in the archaeological record could reflect an organised recycling economy

Summary

Introduction

Until recently, recycling was regarded as being not significant in prehistory. The practice of burying silver objects with their owners, thereby removing silver from. Recycling was the first hypothesis to be rejected in favour of an assumed chemical compositional profile of an unprovenanced geological source to explain the presence of cobalt-copper glass in Egypt and Mycenae (Smirnou & Rehren, 2013). As Pollard et al (2018: 38) highlight, many studies ‘have either ignored completely the potential complexities arising from the mixing or recycling of metal from different sources, or have acknowledged that such practices would invalidate the simple hypothesis of provenance, but have largely dismissed the problem’

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion