The chemical composition of glass from the Byzantine settlement of Gorzuvita in the southern coast of Crimea: first results

The chemical composition of the glass from Gorzuvita, a medieval site in the Southern Coast of Crimea, has been studied with SEM-EDS technique. The window glass and a series of vessel fragments, including handles of oil lamps, have a homogeneous composition. The glass was made using natron and is referred to the Foy-2.2 compositional series known at West European sites from the mid/late 7th-10th centuries; it is believed to be the result of the recycling of glass of an earlier series Foy-2.1 of the Egyptian origin. The items retrieved from the site layer included a fragment of the oil lamp made of glass of the Egyptian II group (8th-9th centuries) and three fragments of the vessels likely produced by mixing natron and plant ash glass.