The Origin of Glass and the First Glass Industries

Abstract

Glass is unique among the archaeological materials of the Late Bronze Age, in its production, use and social meaning. Emerging as a regularly produced substance in the mid-second millennium BCE almost simultaneously in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, we still know surprisingly little about its origin and the organization of production and distribution to the elite workshops shaping it into colourful objects. However, over the past two decades, the combination of trace element chemical analyses of glass and a reassessment of earlier excavated production debris enabled us to made massive progress in our understanding of this industry, as is summarized in this paper.