Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep An archaeometric study of Archaic glass from Rhodes, Greece: Technological and provenance issues A. Oikonomou a, ⁎ , P. Triantafyllidis b a Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG72RD Nottingham, UK b Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesbos, Sapfous 22, Mytilene 81100, Greece ABSTRACT In the present study, a set of 86 beads, of various colours, dating to the Archaic period (640–600 BCE) and excavated on Rhodes island, Greece is investigated using a range of analytical techniques such as SEM/EDX, mXRF and LA-ICP-MS. The role of Rhodes in ancient glassmaking is undoubtful and has been attested by various scholars. Its favourable geographical position being a node between mainland Greece and Asia Minor, Cyprus and consequently the Levantine coast and Middle East enhanced its trading activities and its cultural influences. The main aim of this study is to shed light to the technological features of Archaic glass and in a second stage and through the comparison with already published analytical data of coeval, earlier and later glass samples, to investigate thoroughly the provenance of the Rhodian assemblage. The scientific data demonstrates that there is no continuity in the technology used for the Archaic glass and glass of the subsequent centuries in Rhodes in terms of the basic glass composition. It seems that the technology shifts both in terms of the silica raw materials towards other possible sources and in alkali raw material towards the use of a mineral source rather than plant ash. Relating to the provenance of the Archaic beads, both major-minor and trace elements analysis show that there are strong indications for a Mesopotamian origin. As it is demonstrated in various biplots there is higher correlation between the majority of Archaic samples from Rhodes with samples from Mesopotamia. 1. Introduction Analyses of glass artefacts dating to the Archaic period (about 800 to 480 BCE (Shapiro, 2007)) from modern Greece are scarce in the lit- erature (Oikonomou et al., 2008; Zacharias et al., 2008; Sokaras et al., 2009; Beltsios et al., 2012; Oikonomou, 2012; Oikonomou et al., 2012a; Oikonomou et al., 2012b; Oikonomou et al., 2014; Blomme et al., 2016, 2017). Glass research tends to focus either on prehistoric periods, mainly Mycenaean (Nikita and Henderson, 2006; Walton et al., 2009; Henderson et al., 2010; Polikreti et al., 2011; Smirniou et al., 2012; Triantafyllidis and Karatasios, 2012; Möncke et al., 2013; Zacharias et al., 2013; Zacharias et al., 2018), or on Classical and Hellenistic times (Brill, 1999, 2012; Triantafyllidis, 2000a, 2000b; Rehren et al., 2005; Triantafyllidis et al., 2012; Oikonomou, 2018). It is now well established by the scientific community that both plant ashes and minerals was used to flux the silica raw materials (sand or quartzite pebbles) to produce glass during antiquity (Henderson, 2013 and references therein). Early glass was made using halophytic plant ashes while the mineral form of flux, natron, was probably in- troduced during the beginning of 1st Millennium BCE. Some of the earliest examples of natron glass are dated to the 10th c. BCE (Schlick- Nolte and Werthmann, 2003) and according to Sayre and Smith (1961), natron glass was established by 800 BCE in wider areas of the Mediterranean and western Europe. The transition between the two traditions coincides with major sociopolitical/economic changes of the period such as the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations, Dark Ages and at the same time the introduction of iron in past societies (Henderson, 2013). The present study of archaic glass from Rhodes aims to shed light on various aspects of Archaic glass in Greece such as: • the technology of the selected glass samples from Rhodes • the identification of raw materials used • the changes in glass technology in terms of the raw materials used (if any) and • the provenance of the primary glass Rhodes island (Fig. 1), located in the south west part of Aegean sea, played an important role in glassmaking during the first millennium BCE because of its favourable geographic location being a node of trade activities in close proximity to the Asia Minor, Cyprus and consequently to the Levantine coast (Triantafyllidis, 2002a, 2002b). Many scholars believe due to archaeological evidence that there was primary and secondary glassmaking activity on the island of Rhodes as early as the 6th c. BCE (core formed vessels) (Harden, 1981; McClelan, 1984; Grose, 1989; Stern and Schlick-Nolte, 1994) while we may assume that there https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.004 Received 31 July 2017; Received in revised form 11 July 2018; Accepted 2 August 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: artemios.oikonomou@gmail.com, artemios.oikonomou@nottingham.ac.uk (A. Oikonomou). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 2352-409X/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Please cite this article as: Oikonomou, A., Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.004