Islamic Glass in the Making

The ancient glass industry changed dramatically towards the end of the first millennium. The Roman glassmaking tradition of mineral soda glass was increasingly supplanted by the use of plant ash as the main fluxing agent at the turn of the ninth century CE. Defining primary production groups of plant ash glass has been a challenge due to the high variability of raw materials and the smaller scale of production. Islamic Glass in the Making advocates a large-scale archaeometric approach to the history of Islamic glassmaking to trace the developments in the production, trade and consumption of vitreous materials between the eighth and twelfth centuries and to separate the norm from the exception. It proposes compositional discriminants to distinguish regional production groups, and provides insights into the organisation of the glass industry and commerce during the early Islamic period. The interdisciplinary approach leads to a holistic understanding of the development of Islamic glass; assemblages from the early Islamic period in Mesopotamia, Central Asia, Egypt, Greater Syria and Iberia are evaluated, and placed in the larger geopolitical context. In doing so, this book fills a gap in the present literature and advances a large-scale approach to the history of Islamic glass.

Shedding Light on Roman Glass Consumption on the Western Coast of the Black Sea

The chemical composition of 48 glass finds from Histria and Tomis, Romania, chiefly dated to the 1st–4th c. AD, was determined using prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) at the Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC). Most fragments have composition typical for the Roman naturally colored blue-green-yellow (RNCBGY) glass; Mn-colorless, Sb-colorless, and Sb–Mn colorless glass finds were evidenced, too. Several Foy Série 2.1 and Foy Série 3.2 glass fragments, as well as an HIMT and a plant ash glass sample, were identified in the studied assemblage. The archaeological evidence, the glass working waste items, and the samples with compositional patterns suggestive of recycling are proofs of the secondary glass working activities at Tomis during the Early Roman Empire period.

On the Surface and Beyond. Degradation Morphologies Affecting Plant Ash-Based Archaeological Glass from Kafir Kala (Samarkand, Uzbekistan)

The study focuses on an assemblage of glass finds from the citadel of Kafir Kala, Uzbekistan, located along one of the major Eurasian branches of the “Silk Roads” with a consistent occupation between the 8th and 12th century CE. Glass fragments for this study were selected based on marked surface alterations they showed, with stratified deposits of different thickness and colours. Starting from a preliminary observation under Optical Microscope, fragments were clustered into four main groups based on the surface appearance of the alterations; Scanning Electron Microscopy investigations of the stratigraphy of the alteration products were then carried out, to evaluate micro-textural, morphological and compositional features. Data from the analyses allowed identifying preferential patterns of development of the various degradation morphologies, linkable to compositional alterations of the glass due to burial environment and the alkali leaching action of the water. Iridescence, opaque weathering (at times associated with black stains), and blackening were identified as recurring degradation morphologies; as all but one sample were made of plant ash-based glass, results show no specific correlation between glass composition and the occurrence of one or the other degradation pattern, often found together. Framed in a broad scenario, the paper aims to set the basis for the development of a study approach dedicated to the degradation morphologies affecting archaeological glasses, a topic still lacking systematisation and in-depth dedicated literature.

Study of an Ecological Cement-Based Composite with a Sustainable Raw Material, Sunflower Stalk Ash

The use of plant ash as a sustainable cementitious material in concrete composition is a widely researched subject in the construction domain. A plant studied so far more for its thermal insulation properties, sunflower, was analyzed in this study with regard to its ash effects on the concrete composition. The present research aimed to analyze the effects of a 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, or 30% volume replacement of cement by sunflower stalk ash (SA), a sustainable cementitious material, on the concrete compressive strength at 28 days and three months, the flexural and splitting tensile strengths, the resistance to repeated freeze–thaw cycles, and the resistance to chemical attack of hydrochloric acid. The elementary chemical composition of the SA and the composites was included also. According to the experimental results, SA decreased the values of the compressive and tensile strength of the concrete, but it improved the concrete behavior under repeated freeze–thaw cycles and under the action of hydrochloric acid. A percent of 10% of SA led to a much more pronounced development of compressive strength over time than conventional concrete (26.6% versus 12%).

Archaeometric Analysis of the Objects from the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) in the Crypt under the Piarist Church in Cracow (Poland)

Conservators extracted and preserved reliquaries hidden in the steps of the right flight of the Holy Stairs erected in the Piarist church crypt in Cracow (Poland). Three items from among 59 reliquaries were selected for specialist analyses: a framed, transparent cross containing a particle of the True Cross, and two opaque beads; an ornamented blue one without a hole and a drilled black one were analysed using non-destructive and non-invasive methods. The methods included scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, Raman microspectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The reliquary cross was found to be made of rock crystal and framed with an alloy of gold, silver and probably copper. The beads are made of glass; the blue bead represents forest plant-ash potash–lime glass and the black one, plant-ash soda–lime glass. Cobalt, probably along with copper, was used to produce the colour of the blue bead; manganese and iron ions were used to produce that of the black bead. Lead was present in both beads as one of the minor components and also as a component of corrosion products on their surfaces and probably also as part of the filler for the ornamentation of the blue bead. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that the lead compounds were introduced intentionally to emphasize the bead ornamentation. The possible place and date of manufacture of the artefacts were also discussed.

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF PEANUT CROPS TO IRRIGATION WITH BRACKISH WATERS AND APPLICATION OF ORGANO-MINERAL FERTILIZERS

ABSTRACT The use of organo-mineral fertilizer is an alternative measure to mitigate salt stress in semiarid regions. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological indexes of peanut crops under irrigations with fresh and brackish waters and applications of organo-mineral fertilizers. The experiment was conducted from June to September, 2019, at the Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira (UNILAB), in Redenção, state of Ceará, Brazil, using a completely randomized experimental design in a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement, with four replications. The treatments consisted of five soil fertilizers (F1= 100% NPK mineral fertilizer at the recommended rate; F2= 100% bovine manure-based biofertilizer; F3= 100% plant ash; F4= 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% bovine manure-based biofertilizer; and F5= 50% mineral fertilizer and 50% plant ash); and two salinity levels (electrical conductivities) of the irrigation water (1.0 and 5.0 dS m-1). Photosynthetic rate, transpiration, stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, internal CO2 concentration, water use efficiency, and chlorophyll index of the plants were evaluated at 40 and 54 days after sowing (DAS). Plants irrigated with fresh water presented higher stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration, regardless of the fertilizer used. The use of 100% bovine manure-based biofertilizer resulted in decreases in salt stress and increases in water use efficiency at 40 DAS, and decreases in leaf temperature and increases in relative chlorophyll content at 54 DAS.