Preliminary Informative Results on Glass Tesserae from V^th-VI^th Century AD Mosaics in Albania

Abstract

This paper discusses some preliminary results regarding raw materials used in ancient glass mosaic tesserae. The studied glass tesserae were recovered during the archeological excavation of the mosaics at the Christian basilicas in Byllis, Lin and Elbasan, which according to the archeologists were built between the end of V ^th and beginning of VI ^th century AD. In the recent years, several studies are performed on opaque coloured glass but in Albania only few studies are performed in this field. These samples are analyzed using optical microscopy and micro X-ray fluorescence. Optical microscopy is used to analyse the microstructure of the glass tesserae. The main elements and trace elements are determined qualitatively from measurements performed with micro X-ray fluorescence. The glass matrix resulted to be very heterogeneous with too many inclusions dispersed on it. Several elements which are responsible for the color and opacity of glass tesserae are determined. Comparisons are made between the same colors of glass tesserae from different archaeological sites.