glass

- The working properties of glass used in Early Medieval England - Glass made during the Romano British period was recycled throughout the Late Roman and Early Medieval periods. Studies have shown that British beadmakers of the fifth and early sixth centuries AD made a large proportion of their beads using Roman period glass (Peake, 2013)...

Funnel-shaped glasses have been found in several places, for example in Birka (graves 577, 526, 551, 850, 854, 464, 849 and 433), Sweden and in the Netherlands (De Heul, Utrecht collection PUG). They are often used by reenactors as drinking cups, but could that be their only possible function?

Many thousands of glass beads have been excavated from Early British cemeteries of the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Amongst these beads is a type that was particularly common: decorated polychrome beads in red, yellow, and green glass in a variety of styles and combinations. Birte Brugmann, in her 2004 analysis of Saxon-period glass beads (Brugmann, 2004), named these beads “Traffic Light” (TL) beads...

10th EAC Leiden 2017
***Tens of thousands (Callmer, 1977, pp.12-32) of beads marking the rich graves of the Viking world indicate that the production of these beads is an area worthy of study. Evidence such as mandrels, crucibles, bead fragments, and semi-manufactures exist at Helgo, Birka, Paviken, Hedeby...

Experimental archaeology is taking on an ever more important role in pre- and early historical research. The archaeological open-air museum at the exhibition at the Museum of Pre- and Early History in Asparn/Zaya was a centre and teaching site for experimental archaeology from its beginnings in 1970.