Production or Consumption? Glass Beads from the Roman Villa of Aiano, Tuscany

Cristina Boschetti,Sara Lenzi,Bernard Gratuze,Nadine Schibille,Marco Cavalieri

doi:10.1017/eaa.2021.34

Abstract

Excavations in the Roman villa of Aiano yielded twenty glass beads, a pendant, and a glass-recycling furnace, originally interpreted as a bead workshop. This article re-assesses the evidence of bead making in light of new data obtained thanks to recent progress in archaeological glass studies. A detailed study of the typology, technology, and chemical composition of the beads clearly excludes local production. Instead, two different forming techniques, four different base glasses (Roman, HIMT, Foy 2.1 and Foy 2.1/HIMT), and numerous colouring and opacifying materials point to a well-established and extensive network of the Roman bead trade, in which Aiano evidently participated. The majority of the beads can be related to the monumentalization of the villa in the fourth to fifth centuryadand represent a sample of the ornaments worn by its inhabitants.

Highlights

Glass beads adorning the body were some of the earliest vitreous materials ever produced in the late fourth millennium BC (Moorey, 1994: 190–92)
In the fourteenth century BC, thousands of Egyptian glass beads were transported by two ships sunk off the Anatolian coast at Uluburun and European Association of Archaeology doi:10.1017/eaa.2021.34
A detailed study of Hellenistic and Roman beads would be helpful to establish the beginning of this trade, which could date back to as early as the end of the third century BC (Francis, 1988). Against this background of limited archaeological evidence and fragmentary studies, the discovery in 2008 of a glassrecycling furnace and seven glass beads in the Roman villa of Aiano in Tuscany was enthusiastically identified as a workshop for the production of beads dating to the Migration period, allegedly the only one in Italy (Cavalieri & Giumlia-Mair, 2009)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

A detailed study of Hellenistic and Roman beads would be helpful to establish the beginning of this trade, which could date back to as early as the end of the third century BC (Francis, 1988) Against this background of limited archaeological evidence and fragmentary studies, the discovery in 2008 of a glassrecycling furnace and seven glass beads in the Roman villa of Aiano in Tuscany was enthusiastically identified as a workshop for the production of beads dating to the Migration period, allegedly the only one in Italy (Cavalieri & Giumlia-Mair, 2009).

Modern era high level of specialization

MATERIALS AND METHODS

CONCLUSIONS