Ancient Egyptian Forum

tnrees

Another talk to our society - An industrial site in Amarna. Actualy very interesting.
I was told that the Egyptians could not make glass & had to import it at this time but our lecturer reconstructed a furnace from amarna (too big to be a glass furnace according to the experts) & produced ingots of blue glass very like the ones found in the Turkish shipwruck (Uluburun?) from just local (Amarna) sand & the ash of welsh seaweed.

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Akhnaton · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject:

Very interesting!
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Amarna

Osiris II · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:57 pm Post subject:

There are a few--a very few--examples of ancient Egyptian glass that have come down to us. The one I think of immediately is a small, beautiful glass jar, in the shape of a fish and decorated with strands of different colored glass. It shows the great ability that the AE had with glass in that era.
You might find the following interesting. It is, more than likely, the newly-discovered kiln of which tnrees was speaking:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214094026.htm

Osiris II · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:02 pm Post subject:

This is an image of the bottle:

http://www.touregypt.net/HistoricalEssays/glass1.jpg

You might have to copy and paste it into your URL, I'm not sure you can click on it.

tnrees · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:23 am Post subject:

It is the furnace he was talking about - he used welsh seaweed because he says he is not enough of a botanist to recognise the authentic plants (which grow in salty areas).

Ramsekh · Gods/Goddesses Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 746

what about the glass hippo?
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Osiris II · Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 1:27 am Post subject:

Ramsekh, the hippo--if it's the one I think you mean--is faience. Technically, faience is glass, but it's not commonly grouped as a glass product.

Psusennes I · Pharaoh Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Posts: 913 Location: England

The Egyptians could produce glass, but only in small quantities (usually as rods or beads) that were then melted and moulded into a new shape. As a result of this process, large glass objects were exceptionally difficult to produce, and clear glass could rarely be cast larger than a rod or bead. Vessels were produced by wrapping or dripping molten glass onto casts - it wasn't until the first century BC that blown glass started being imported or produced in Egypt.
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tnrees · Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 11:41 am Post subject:

The piece of experimental archaeology I saw would have produced (if 1 of the shelves had not colapsed) 4 large cakes of bright blue glass - from memory 30cm dia by 10 cm high - the same size as the ones from the Turkish (uluburun?) shipwreck.
They probably could have done 1 run every 2 days and there were 2 suitable furnaces at the sight.

tnrees · Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 11:53 am Post subject:

Just thought - a lot of illustrations of middle eastern glass making (including ones in works that say Egyptians could not make glass) copy Petries incorrect EGYPTIAN illustration of glassmaking. He thought the crucibles were stands and they made it in 2 stages - 1st frit which they then melted to cakes.