Teardrops at the Lake: Chemistry of New Kingdom to Makuria Glass Beads and Pendants Between the First and Second Nile Cataracts

Joanna Then-Obłuska,Laure Dussubieux

doi:10.1007/s10437-021-09467-1

Abstract

International expeditions extensively excavated Lower Nubia (between the First and Second Nile Cataracts) before it was submerged under the waters of Lake Nasser and Lake Nubia. The expeditions concentrated on monumental architecture and cemeteries, including sites at Qustul and Serra East, where the New Kingdom, and Napatan, Meroitic, Nobadian, and Makurian-period elites and common people were buried, ca. 1400 BC–AD 1400. Although the finds abound in adornments, including bead imports from Egypt and South India/Sri Lanka, only a few traces of local glass bead-making have been recorded in Nubia so far. Based on results of laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of 76 glass beads, pendants, and chunks from Qustul and Serra East contexts, dated between the New Kingdom and the Makuria Kingdom periods, this paper discusses the composition and provenance of two types of plant-ash soda-lime (v-Na-Ca) glass, two types of mineral soda-lime glass (m-Na-Ca), and two types of mineral-soda-high alumina (m-Na-Al) glass. It also presents the remains of a probable local glass bead-making workshop dated to the period of intensive long-distance bead trade in Northeast Africa, AD 400–600.

Highlights

This article offers an overview of glass types in Lower Nubia, their provenance, and chronology based on the laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of the New Kingdom through Medieval glass beads and pendants from Qustul and Serra East cemeteries, and the glass remains from a Nobadian Serra East household
Archaeological finds suggest that the A-Group people (3700–2800 BC) and the C-Group people (2300–1550 BC) were wealthy individuals
The present study confirms their Egyptian provenance (Fig. 5A), and the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition (OINE) m/v-Na-Ca glass beads in this assemblage were most probably Meroitic items reused in Nobadian graves

Summary

Introduction

This article offers an overview of glass types in Lower Nubia, their provenance, and chronology based on the laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of the New Kingdom through Medieval glass beads and pendants from Qustul and Serra East cemeteries, and the glass remains (beads, pendants, and chunks) from a Nobadian Serra East household. Some samples of the OINE m-Na-Ca type have very low levels of A l2O3 (< 0.5%) and low levels of some trace elements (m-Na-Ca LT), suggesting the use of silica sources different from that of the m-Na-Ca glass produced between the Hellenistic and Islamic periods.

Results

Conclusion