A Dig through Archives and Depots

Abstract

Despite the key role of the Ptolemaic period in the history of glass technology, very little is known on the workshop activities and on the organization of the production. This is mainly due to the limits of the documentation currently available, consisting of very few archaeological contexts often poorly preserved. This contribution presents a first overview of the material and archival record related to the 1931 excavations in the Ptolemaic inlay workshop of Tebtynis (Fayum oasis, Egypt). Unlike other coeval sites, the data from Tebtynis revealed a complete set of evidence related to the stratigraphy and the topography of the craft area, to the shape and size of the kiln, to the furniture, the tools, the raw materials, and the finished products discovered. The interpretation of the data provides the opportunity to propose new hypotheses on the function of the spaces and the tools, but also on the chronology of the workshop, contributing to shedding light on the technological and empirical knowledge of the ancient Egyptian glassmakers in a crucial moment of glass history.

Reflections into Ptolemaic Glass II: Characterizing Yellow, Yellowish‐orange, Red, and Brown Inlays from Tebtynis

“…The data acquired during this work confirm that the transition zinc/tin in lead antimonate inclusions within ancient glasses occurs in Egypt at least from the late Ptolemaic period ( ~ 1st century bce , but possibly even as early as the 3rd century bce , according to the specific dating of the workshop, as discussed in Bettineschi, Deotto, et al, 2019), offering the chance to circumscribe the chronology for the introduction of this specific technique.…”

“…This is certainly due to the low number of published analytical studies related to this period and geographical area. As already noted, yellowish‐orange glasses appeared in Egypt at least from the 6th century bce and were already widespread by the second half of the 4th century bce , as suggested by their abundant use in the sarcophagi of the brothers Petosiris and Djedthotiuefankh (Bettineschi, Angelini, & Molin, 2019). Thus, the lack of comparative data in that specific area of the plot should not be considered in terms of absence from the archaeological record, but only as a bias created by the selection of samples analyzed to date.…”

Reflections into Ptolemaic glass: Colorless, white, blue, and green inlays from the workshop of Tebtynis

“…This work is thus focused on the archaeometric study of a collection of more than 800 fragments of monochrome and polychrome glasses discovered by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Egypt (MAI) in the inlay workshop of Tebtynis (Fayum oasis, Figure 1) in 1931 and currently preserved at the Museo Egizio, Turin (Italy). The Tebtynis workshop stands as a landmark in vitreous materials studies, not only because it yielded a huge quantity of semi-finished and finished products, but mostly because it preserved the tools, the kiln, and the room furniture which were used for glassmaking (Bettineschi, Deotto, et al, 2019).…”

“…Localization of Tebtynis in the framework of Graeco‐Roman inlay workshops in Egypt (Bettineschi, Angelini, & Molin, 2019)…”

“…Even though all the archaeological documentation regarding the location of the workshop and the planimetry of the structures was never published at the end of the excavations, the site is widely cited in the literature among the few Hellenistic glass‐working centers known in the Mediterranean basin (see, e.g., Henderson, 2013; Larson, 2016; Nenna et al, 2000; Stern & Schlick‐Nolte, 1994). Recently, study of the archives of Carlo Anti, director of the Tebtynis excavations, offered the chance to obtain first‐hand data on the discovery of the workshop and its materials (Bettineschi, Deotto, et al, 2019). The research revealed that the workshop of Tebtynis was located within the first court of the Soknebtynis temple, that it was abandoned in correspondence with a functional transformation of the area, and that the glass inlays recovered and brought back to Italy constitute a reference assemblage, selected to offer a statistically significant overview of all the materials unearthed.…”