HISTORY OF GLASS-MAKING FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE LATE 1st - EARLY 2nd MILLENNIUM AD: DISCOVERIES, METHODS AND RESEARCH RESULTS PART 1. LATE BRONZE AGE

Статья представляет собой обзор итогов ведущих мировых исследований 1990-2010-х гг. в области древнего стеклоделия эпохи поздней бронзы на территории Месопотамии, Египта, Греции и Малой Азии. Особое внимание уделено новым методам и подходам к изучению древнего стеклоделия (исследование концентраций следовых элементов и изотопного состава стекла), позволившим ставить и решать новые задачи при определении происхождения стекла. Согласно их итогам, стеклоделие уже на раннем этапе существования являлось многоэтапным процессом, в котором варка стекла и изготовление из него изделий были двумя специализированными видами ремесла. Для рассмотренного периода существование стекловаренных центров однозначно подтверждается для Египта и Месопотамии, причем в последнем случае ведущую роль в их выделении играют итоги лабораторных исследований, археологическими методами они не фиксируются. Мастерские микенской Греции и Малой Азии работали на привозных полуфабрикатах их Египта и Месопотамии. Выявлены признаки, позволяющие различать стекло, сваренное в Египте и различных центрах Месопотамии. The paper provides an overview of key world studies conducted in the 1990s-2010s on ancient glass-making in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Asia Minor during the Late Bronze Age. It focuses on new methods and approaches to the studies of ancient glass-making (examination of the concentration of trace elements and the isotopic composition of glass) that offered an opportunity to raise and address new tasks in determining glass provenance. The results of the studies show that, from the very early stage, glass-making was a multi-stage process where melting glass and making glass items were two specialized crafts. For the studied period existence of glass-making centers is reliably established for Egypt and Mesopotamia, in the latter case laboratory studies are of great importance as archaeological methods have not revealed any centers. Glass-making workshops in Mycenaean Greece and Asia Minor used imported raw glass from Egypt and Mesopotamia. Features that can distinguish between the production of Egyptian and Mesopotamian glassmaking centres were singled out.

Ancient city type settlements of Lowland Karabakh

The archaeological research indicated a large number and significant density of settlements of different times on the territory of Azerbaijan, which is mainly due to the fact that there were all the necessary conditions for the emergence of settlements. The decisive condition for their emergence has always been the presence of certain material prerequisites for life, as well as the possibility of defending a given area. The analysis of archaeological materials draws a picture of life in the cities of Albania in the period of antiquity. These cities were administrative and trade and craft centers with developed money circulation. In the cities of Albania, such types of handicrafts as pottery, metallurgy and metalworking, jewelry, glass making, as well as weaving and leatherworking were developed. In their development, a significant role played the trade routes of that time passing through the territory of Albania, one of which was the waterway along the Kura River. Keywords: Albania, Karabakh, cities, base of column, defensive walls

Ancient and Contemporary Industries Based on Alkali and Alkali-Earth Salts and Hydroxides: The Historical and Technological Review

Although sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium were isolated as the chemical elements by Sir Humphry Davy for the first time at the beginning of the 19th century, alkali salts and hydroxides have been widely known and used since the very ancient time. The word “alcali” & “alkali” was borrowed in the 14th century by literary Roman-Germanic languages from Arabic al-qalī, al-qâly ou al-qalawi (), which means “calcinated ashes” of saltwort plants. These ashes are characterized nowadays as mildly basic. They have been widely used in therapy, cosmetics, and pharmacy in Mediaeval Europe and the Middle East. However, the consumption of these alkali containing ashes, as well as natron salts and calcined lime-based materials used for different customer purposes, like therapy, pharmacy, cosmetics, glass making, textile treating, dyes, brick making, binding materials, etc., was commonly known since the very ancient times. The current review of the archeological, historical, and technological data provides the readers with the scope of the different everyday life applications of alkali and alkali-earth salts and hydroxides from ancient times till nowadays. The review obviously reveals that many modern chemical manufacturing processes using alkali and alkali-earth salts and hydroxides have a very ancient history. In contrast, there has been a similarity of targets for implementing alkali and alkali-earth salts and hydroxides in everyday life, from the ancient past till the modern period. These processes are ceramic and glass making, binding materials in construction, textile treatment, metallurgy, etc. So, this review approves the common statement: “The Past is a clue for the Future.”

MODIFICATION OF SYNTHETIC RAW MATERIAL BASED ON SODIUM HYDROXIDE FOR PRODUCING GLASS

The research continues the direction of intensification of glass-making processes by completely replacing soda ash in the glass batch with sodium hydroxide to obtain a well-classified intermediate two-component raw material. A method for obtaining a modified synthetic raw material (SRMm) for producing sodium-calcium-silicate glass based on quartz-containing raw material and sodium hydroxide is considered. SRMm consists of two parts, the chemical composition of one of which corresponds to the low-melting eutectic on the Na2O-SiO2 diagram, in contrast to the prototype SRM, the chemical composition of which corresponds to the chemical composition of silicate glass. The products of the synthesis of parts of quartz sand and sodium hydroxide are mixed with the rest of the components of the glass batch of alkali-silicate glasses, followed by possible agglomeration by known methods. The results of a comparative X-ray phase analysis of experimental charges, as well as heat-treated pelletized samples, show more pronounced glass formation processes in a charge based on SRMm than using the prototype. The use of experimental charges can intensify the physicochemical reactions at the stage of melting in a glass-making furnace, reduce the maximum melting temperature of glass, reduce the carryover of dust-like components of the charge and the technogenic load on the environment.

Highly Robust Ce3+-Doped and Gd3+-Mixed KLaF4 Nano-Glass Composite Scintillator

Transparent Ce3+-doped nano-glass composites (nano-GCs) embedded with pure and Gd3+-mixed KLaF4 nanocrystals (NCs) are prepared by a cost-effective and reproducible glass-making and thermal treatment method. The nano-GCs can be readily...

Wyroby ze szkła i fajansu egipskiego

During archaeological research in the cremation cemetery in Żelazna Nowa, 106 glass and four faience artefacts were uncovered. Most of them were found in eleven cremation burials (1, 2, 19A, 33, 34, vicinity of 36, 37, 39, 44, 47, 54) dated between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The glass pieces are highly fragmented, melted, or fused with other elements of the pyre, with only one glass bead completely preserved (type 218c acc. to Tempelmann-Mączyńska). The faience objects have survived in better shape: these are two complete beads and two fragments, all representing type 171 (acc. to Tempelmann-Mączyńska). Chemical compositions of 12 glass pieces and one fragment of a faience bead were determined using EPMA analysis. All the analysed artefacts turned out to be sodium glasses, made using both mineral sodium (natron) and sodium from the ash of halophytic plants (one sample). Natron glasses represent three groups distinguished by varying contents of MgO and K2O. The differences in concentrations of these components indicate that sands from different deposits were added in the glass-making process. This corroborates a hypothesis positing multiple centres of glass production during the Roman Period.

On Teaching Tiffany Stained Glass in Art School

The article describes the multi-layer stained glass making technology, an art technique most vividly reflected in the projects designed and produced by L. C. Tiffany. The present paper is a continuation of the series of academic articles published in the scientific journal Secreta Artis in 2018 and 2019 that reveal the step-by-step process of creating a Tiffany stained glass, from sketch and cartoon preparation to artwork finalization. The proposed method has been tried out and proven in practice: taught to students at the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts of Sergey Andriaka, the technology is, likewise, used to create original pieces of art, as well as make stained-glass windows as part of various architecture projects. A multi-layer stained glass allows one to significantly expand the glass palette at hand, enrich compositions with exquisite color and tonal effects, which are particularly difficult to achieve in a single-layer stained glass, insert different objects and materials in-between layers of glass. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate to artists, designers, teachers, students and all fine art lovers artistic possibilities of Tiffany stained glass and provide a step-bystep guide to its production. The outlined technique can be applied in a stained glass workshop, with a basic set of tools and equipment. The article formulates key multi-layer stained glass making methods and delineates some of the most typical challenges and ways to overcome them. The methodology is exemplified by L. C. Tiffany’s work in stained glass, along with the artwork designed by the author of the article.