Pages: 299-315

The article studies raw glass (33 specimen) from Komarov III settlement of late 4th / early 5th centuries, known for its unique glass workshop, the only one found outside the Roman Empire. The authors employed energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to distinguish groups of glass that was traded over large distances across the Eastern Mediterranean and Western part of the Roman Empire in the I millennium AD. The findings prove the conclusion about the specific features of this industry: glass was not made in Komarov, they only manufactured tableware and some other items from imported semi-finished products locally. The chronology of distinguished groups allows us to infer existence of a workshop here not only after 250 — early 300s, but also in the period not earlier than 330s / after 350s. Existence of a glass industry in the studied region in the given epoch sheds a new light on the origin of “barbarian” faceted cups, which could be produced in the contact zone of the Roman provincial and Chernyakhov populations on the border of the Empire, on limes or beyond, on such settlements as Komarov.

Keywords: Eastern Europe, Western Ukraine, Late Roman period, Chernyakhov culture, glass workshop, chemical composition and origin of glass, manganese, antimony.

Information about authors:

Olga Rumyantseva (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117036, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Ilias Shcherbakov (Kharkiv, Ukraine). Candidate of Chemistry. State Scientific Institution “Institute for Single Crystals”, National Academy of Science of Ukraine. Lenin Ave., 60, Kharkiv, 61001, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]