Posted on 12/14/2007 7:23:57 PM PST by blam
Contact: Dr. Paul Nicholson
NicholsonPT@cardiff.ac.co.uk
44-292-087-4582
Cardiff University
Ancient Egyptian glassmaking recreated
3000-year-old furnace rebuilt by archaeologist
The reconstructed kiln built by Dr. Paul Nicholson of Cardiff University and Dr. Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University.
A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace, showing that Ancient Egyptian glassmaking methods were much more advanced than previously thought.
Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University’s School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest fully excavated glassmaking site in the world. The site, at Amarna, on the banks of the Nile, dates back to the reign of Akhanaten (1352 - 1336 B.C.), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.
It was previously thought that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East at around this time. However, the excavation team believes the evidence from Amarna shows they were making it themselves, possibly in a single stage operation. Dr Nicholson and his colleague Dr Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University demonstrated this was possible, using local sand to produce a glass ingot from their own experimental reconstruction of a furnace near the site.
The team have also discovered that the glassworks was part of an industrial complex which involved a number of other high temperature manufacturing processes. The site also contained a potter’s workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and faience - a material used in amulets and architectural inlays. The site was near one of the main temples at Amarna and may have been used to produce materials in state buildings.
Dr Nicholson, who has been working at Amarna since 1983, said: “It has been argued that the Egyptians imported their glass and worked it into the artefacts that have been discovered from this time. I believe there is now enough evidence to show that skilled craftsmen could make their own glass and were probably involved in a range of other manufacturing industries as well.”
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Dr Nicholson has now written a book detailing the discoveries made at Amarna. Entitled Brilliant Things for Akhenaten, it is published by the Egypt Exploration Society (London) and available through Oxbow Books in the UK and The David Brown Book Company in the USA.
GGG Ping.
What’s with the line across the blue smoke in the pic? Just thought I’d ask. Was this a wood kiln? The debris around it seems to imply that it was.
Shadow effect from the smoke.
That will make the straight line in the upper left hand corner (blue smoke to sand)?
It may be an artiface of the camera sensor -if digital — Sunlight reflecting from light surface of kiln up into the smoke....I guess I should have said reverse shadow effect.
or not.
I have had some odd stuff show up in photos of things in snow...
There would be some obvious heat effects going on when photographing a kiln ;) I was (am still) curious about the near vertical line in the upper right hand quadrant. What do you think could cause that?
Sorry, upper left hand quadrant.
Imagine again that you have a mirror.
If you use the mirror to ‘shine’ sunlight into he smoke column you would see?
A square. You have seen the displays that project an image onto a water vapor - yes?
If the smoke column has a white object in ‘front’ of it, with square corners or straight lines, the light would reflect sunlight onto the smoke column. And the light would appear to be a straight line in the smoke.
Or not.
I could imagine I had a warp drive. Flew into the future. Retrieved some lingering souls who had nothing to do at the moment. Bring them back (to drink the going brew of the time period for ‘scientific purposes’ of course) With all of their equipment and receive a big WTF.
You are welcome.
Mery Christmas.
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Thanks Blam. Somehow I managed to not ping this, although everyone may have noticed it in the Digest Saturday. |
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thanks.
I read all the fancy light effect replies, but I think it’s much simpler than that. I think the smoke isn’t making a straight line at all, but is more visible in front of the building that does have a straight line on it’s corner.
my 2 cents.
Note: this topic is from 12/09/2014. Just updating.
Note: this topic is from 12/14/2007. Thanks blam.
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