The glass beaker with snake-thread decoration from Frontovoye 3: glass composition and origine

A glass snake-thread beaker made from colorless transparent glass was found in a grave dating to the end of the 2nd - middle of the 3rd centuries in the Frontovoye 3 cemetery in the southwestern Crimea. Likely it is an imported part of prestige table setting. The SEM-EDS method was used to examine the composition of the beaker glass and its decorative elements made from white opaque and turquoise translucent glass. The analysis demonstrated that the beaker was made from mixed glass and contains two decolorizers, antimony and manganese, which means that glass cullet was used in its production. The glass for decorative elements could be colored in the workshop where the beaker was made. It can be assumed that the beaker was made in the European part of the Roman Empire; however, its provenance is unlikely to be linked to the Rhein workshops (Cologne) and Pannonia where the largest production centers of such beakers were probably located. The data on its composition is, therefore, in good agreement with the conclusions made on the basis of the beaker form and decoration. It was probably made in one of the workshops in the Roman Empire periphery.