Core-Formed Glass From Dated Contexts (Classical, Mediterranean)

This work presents a new typology and chronology of core-formed glass perfume containers produced in the Mediterranean from the late sixth century B.C. to the end of the first century B.C. This study catalogues over two thousand vessels, separated into eighty-eight types, and represents a refinement of the studies of Poul Fossing and Donald Harden. The new chronology of core-formed glass vessels presented in this work is based on the dates supplied by the archaeological contexts of the examples of the various types. In most cases the types can be dated to a range of twenty-five to fifty years. A subsidiary goal of this work is the identification of the centers of production of core-formed glass vessels during the second half of the first millennium B.C. Through an analysis of the distribution patterns of vessels with a known provenance it would seem that the main center of production of core-formed vessels in the late sixth and fifth centuries B.C. was on Rhodes. It appears that core-formed glass was produced at a number of centers during the fourth through second centuries B.C. and that Cyprus was the main center during the final period of production in the first century B.C. The production of core-formed glass vessels ceased soon after the invention of glass-blowing.