Glass Ornament in the Late Islamic Period: Composition of Glass Bangles from Northern Qatar

Abstract

Abstract Glass ornaments such as bangles are widely distributed along trade routes between the East and West, indicating interactions and exchange between manufacturing and consumption sites. In the Persian Gulf region, numerous glass bangles have been excavated from late 2nd millennium CE contexts, but rather few of these have been studied with scientific analysis. Here, we report data of 56 representative samples from assemblages found at seven coastal sites of northern Qatar that date between the 18th and 20th centuries CE, analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Based on the chemical compositions combined with their respective colours, the assemblage represents six different glass provenances, including one subgroup from the Levant, one subgroup from Mesopotamia, and another two subgroups using different plant types as fluxes, with their sand source similar to Sasanian glasses from Central Iraq between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE, and two high-alumina subgroups associated with an Indian origin. The paper also compares the Qatar bangles with others from the Islamic world and India to discuss differences and similarities of them.