The glass finds from the Vetricella site (9th-12th c.): archaelogy and archaeometry

We examine here the glass finds from the Vetricella site. This site, investigated during the ERC-Avanced nEU-Med project (www.neu-med.unisi.it ) is interpreted as the centre of the royal curtis of Valli attested in documentary sources from 937. During the excavation, a large number of glass objects dated from the 4th to the 12th centuries were unearthed. The compositions of the early mediaeval Vetricella glass vessels (beakers, goblets, bottles, ampoules/vials), are studied and compared with those of similar finds from various other European sites. With the exception of one glass bottle, made with Syro-palestinian plant ash soda glass, all the other studied glasses belong to Antique or Late-Antique natron glass groups (Mn- and Sb-decolorized, Foy 2 and HIMT). All these objects illustrate the recycling practices of Antique and Late Antique glass in Europe as they are described by Theophilus for the 11th and 12th centuries.