CERES :: Browsing by Author "Shortland, Andrew J."

Browsing by Author "Shortland, Andrew J."

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Open Access
The analysis of late Bronze Age glass from Nuzi and the question of the origin of glass-making
(Wiley, 2017-10-25) Shortland, Andrew J.; Kirk, Susanna; Eremin, Katherine; Degryse, Patrick; Walton, M.
This paper re‐analyses a considerable corpus of glass from the Late Bronze Age site of Nuzi, found near Kirkuk in Iraq. SEM–WDS and Sr and Nd isotopic analysis were applied, in addition to cataloguing the glass. The work showed that the glass technology at Nuzi was subtly different from contemporary Egyptian sites, using different ways of opacifying and working glass. At least two, perhaps three, Near Eastern production sites are postulated. The range of glass colours and the skill of their application at Nuzi was perhaps not on a par with the Egyptian sites. This led to a reconsideration and review of the accepted wisdom that the Near East is the source of the innovation that is glass‐making. This opinion is based on limited textual and iconographic sources and is dominated by an erroneous early date for a very developed Nuzi glass industry along with a few finds of glass vessels in early contexts. Some of this evidence has now been at least questioned, suggesting that glass‐making in Egypt, at least as early as the middle of the 15th century bc, and probably earlier, is no later than that in the Near East. It is argued that it is far from clear that the Near East was the source of the innovation and that a more cautious approach would better fit the evidence.
Open Access
Ancient Biographies: Trace element analysis to investigate provenance and transportation mechanism of Late Bronze Age glass
(Equinox Publishing, 2019-05-16) Kemp, Victoria; McDonald, A.; Shortland, Andrew J.
LA-ICPMS analysis was carried out on a scaraboid blue glass bead (Hunterian Museum Glasgow, D.1921.39) excavated from Tomb 27 in Gurob, in the Southern Fayum region of Egypt. Gurob is known to have been the site of a ‘harem palace’ established in the reign of Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BC). The tomb was located at the northernmost point of the New Kingdom cemetery and was undisturbed, containing the remains of seven females and two children, and was dated by the excavators to between the reigns of Amenophis I (1525-1504 BC) and Tuthmosis III. The glass scarab was coloured by copper and trace element values of La, Cr, Ti and Zr exhibited compositional consistency with glasses from Mesopotamia, rather than from Egypt. Therefore, the glass scarab represents a rare example of Mesopotamian glass to be discovered in Egypt, in addition to being some of the earliest glass found. The finds support iconographic references in the Hall of the Annals at Karnak to the import of early glass into Egypt. The implication is that these beads represent luxury items transported into Egypt by high-ranking foreign women perhaps in connection with the Gurob harem palace.
Open Access
Antimony as a raw material in ancient metal and glass making: provenancing Georgian LBA metallic Sb by isotope analysis
(Taylor & Francis, 2019-11-13) Dillis, Sarah; van Ham-Meert, Alicia; Leeming, Peter; Shortland, Andrew J.; Gobejishvili, Gela; Abramishvili, Mikheil; Degryse, Patrick
Sb was frequently used as a raw material, both in ancient glass-making (as an opacifier and decolouriser) and metallurgy (either as an alloying element or as a pure metal). Despite this ubiquity, antimony production has only occasionally been studied and questions concerning its provenance are still not satisfactorily answered. This study evaluates the suitability of Sb isotope analysis for provenance determination purposes, as experiments under lab conditions have revealed fractionation occurring during redox processes in oxidising stibnites and in making opacified glasses. The results of this paper help to evaluate the possible influence of the pyrotechnological processes on the antimony isotope composition of glass artefacts. This paper focuses on the Caucasus as case study by applying mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic analysis to Georgian ores (mainly from the Racha-Lechkumi district) and Late Bronze Age (LBA; 15th–10th century BCE) metallic Sb objects found at the sites of Brili and Chalpiragorebi.
Open Access
Ballistic extremity wounding : quantifying tissue damage associated with military firearms
(2018) Stevenson, Tom; Carr, Debra J.; Harrison, K.; Critchley, Richard; Shortland, Andrew J.
Gunshot wounding (GSW) is often the second most common mechanism of injury after explosive in war. With a large proportion of survivors typically suffering with extremity wounds, the clinical burden is often substantial. Following the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, this work set out to ascertain the clinical burden of GSW suffered by UK military personnel. A critical literature gap uncovered was pertaining to the effect of clothing on GSW patterns. A synthetic limb model was used to test the effect of UK military clothing on GSW patterns in a maximal and minimal state, as worn by front-line service personnel, using 7.62 x 39 mm and 5.45 x 39 mm ammunition types. Further work was then undertaken to develop a technique to facilitate precise examination of GSW patterns within an opaque target. Lastly, this led to the development of a cadaveric animal limb model to test the same military clothing states as with the synthetic model. Increased damage was found in the presence of the maximal clothing state within both models, which would translate clinically into a wound requiring more extensive surgical intervention. The relevance of these findings, along with critical appraisal of each model used are then discussed, with further work proposed.
Open Access
A bioarchaeological and historical analysis of scurvy in eighteenth and nineteenth century England
(2015-03-03) Sinnott, C. A.; Shortland, Andrew J.; Mays, S.
The identification of metabolic diseases is a crucial aspect of osteoarchaeological analysis and of paleopathological studies. This study is specifically concerned with the study of scurvy and its bony manifestation. This investigation considers the recognition of the bony lesions of scurvy in adult skeletons that originate from English archaeological contexts dating to the Post Medieval period. In order to identify scorbutic bony lesions, assemblages were analysed that derived from the Georgian period Navy that were known to suffer from endemic scurvy, namely Haslar hospital near Portsmouth and Stonehouse hospital in Plymouth. These assemblages were complemented by two Non-Naval skeletal collections of a broadly contemporaneous time period, one of which was a prison assemblage from Oxford Castle in Oxford and the other was from Darwen, Lancashire and consisted of a Primitive Methodist cemetery. For the purpose of this study, an extensive literature review was carried out and a specially modified scurvy recording form was created. In total three hundred and fifty-eight skeletons were analysed using the scurvy recording form on which a total of twenty-one potential scorbutic indicators were scored. The data was then subject to statistical analysis and a set of primary and secondary scorbutic indicators was established. The primary scorbutic lesions were femur, sphenoid, posterior maxilla, scapula, endocranial and mandible. Nine secondary lesions were also established and these were lesions of the foot, humerus, ulna, radius, hand, clavicle, innominate, fibula and the ectocranial surface of the skull. In total, 66.7% of the Haslar assemblage was found to have suffered from scurvy, followed by Plymouth with 20.6%, Darwen with 16.4% and Oxford Castle with 7.9%. It was found that scurvy could be identified in adult skeletal material through the recognition of a number of lesions that could not be attributed to any other disease process. The results indicated that scurvy was present in all of the skeletal collections studied but was more common in the Naval assemblages. This is an important development in the detection of scurvy in the archaeological record and is crucial in the reconstruction of past diets and metabolic disease patterns.
Open Access
Chapter 14: Ceramics
(Cambridge University Press, 2019-12-31) Shortland, Andrew J.; Degryse, Patrick
Ceramics are the most abundant surviving material on almost all Neolithic and later archaeological sites. Their abundance and ubiquity is the result of several factors. Firstly, the raw materials that are used to create most ceramics are commonly available in a wide variety of areas. Most require very little in the way of specialised processing. This means that it is generally relatively inexpensive in terms of the time and energy required to gather and process the raw materials to create ceramics. Secondly, they tend to be fragile – if dropped they are easily broken. Thirdly, the broken ceramic sherds cannot easily be reused. Unlike metals, which can be sharpened or remelted, the fate of most broken ceramics is to be discarded. In contrast to the relative fragility of the complete vessel, sherds are remarkably resistant to further degradation in burial and diagenesis. This means that sherds tend to pass relatively unchanged into the hands of the archaeologist, where the reconstruction of the shape and material of the original vessel is possible. Ceramics, therefore, despite their fragility, can be extremely useful, both to the societies who have employed them, usually in great abundance, and to the scientists who study them.
Open Access
The characterisation and provenancing of ancient ochres
(Cranfield University, 2010-04) Attard Montalto, Nicola; Rogers, Keith; Shortland, Andrew J.
Open Access
Characterising Chinese Ru ware in the Sir Percival David collection at the British Museum using handheld XRF analysis
(Elsevier, 2023-09-07) Delbey, Thomas; Harrison Hall, Jessica; Sheaf, Colin; Shortland, Andrew J.
Ru ware is a very rare and highly prized stoneware from the end of the Northern Song period of China (960–1127 CE). Stylistic and art historical work by Regina Krahl (2021) suggests that a brush washer in the Sir Percival David Collection, housed in the British Museum, might be Ru rather than Korean Goryeo ware as previously thought. This paper reports the analysis of the glaze of this piece by handheld XRF in comparison with 10 pieces of Ru and 10 pieces of Goryeo ware. Despite the compositional similarity of the glazes, the analysis was able to show conclusively that the piece is Ru ware. The work has implications for the analysis of Chinese stoneware and beyond, showing that it may be possible (under the right conditions) to distinguish different productions relatively quickly and easily.
Open Access
The composition and technology of polychrome enamels on Chinese ruby‐backed plates identified through nondestructive micro‐X‐ray fluorescence
(Wiley, 2020-03-12) Norris, Dana; Braekmans, Dennis; Domoney, Kelly; Shortland, Andrew J.
This research presents non‐destructive analyses of Chinese enamelled copper and porcelain decorated with polychrome enamels. This study utilises two key, high‐value art works with complex enamelling in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK) to elucidate the composition and technology of objects with ruby‐backed decoration. These plates date from early Qing dynasty and are associated with the Yongzheng (1723–1735) and early Qianlong (1735–1796) periods. The goal of this research is to investigate the hypothesis that ruby‐backed plates in these two mediums are decorated with the same enamels and possibly manufactured in mutual enamelling workshops, which is a current topic of debate among scholars. Ten different enamel colours and the gilding on each plate were analysed and evaluated with micro‐X‐ray fluorescence to study the opacifiers and pigments. The results show that the enamels on these two works utilise the same opacifier and the consistent pigments in the white, ruby, pink, green, yellow, turquoise green, and blue enamels. Compositional differences were identified in the underdrawings, purple enamels, and gilding. The results demonstrate that Chinese painted enamels and overglazes on porcelain share mutual technology in most, but not all, of the polychrome decoration, which impacts upon our knowledge of technological organisation in the manufacture of these objects. Micro‐X‐ray fluorescence has been shown to be an effective and robust technique for the nondestructive study of decorative surfaces in these two material types.
Open Access
The dating and provenance of glass artefacts excavated from the ancient city of Tall Zirā‛a, Jordan
(Wiley, 2020-06-29) Kemp, Victoria; Schmidt, Katharina; Brownscombe, Will; Soennecken, Katja; Vieweger, Dieter; Häser, Jutta; Shortland, Andrew J.
The first deliberate manufacture of glass occurs in the sixteenth century BC, although the origin of the material is still a focus of debate; Egypt or Mesopotamia being the most likely innovator. The conventional approach is that glass technology first developed in Mesopotamia (Barag, 1970, p131-4; Moorey, 1994, p192; Shortland et al., 2017) and that the subsequent transfer to Egypt could be ascribed to tribute associated with the successful military campaigns in the Levant by the Egyptian king, Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BC). Although there is textual and iconographic evidence for the production, supply and transport of glass between Egypt, its vassal Levantine states and Mesopotamia, it is very rare to find Egyptian glass in Mesopotamia or vice versa (Walton et al. 2009). The exceptions to date are two green glass rods found in Amarna, Egypt, which have trace element compositions consistent with Mesopotamian glass, and a collection of blue glass beads and a scarab recovered from a tomb in Gurob, Egypt, which also showed compositional consistency with glasses of known Mesopotamian origin (Varberg et al., 2016; Kemp, McDonald, A and Shortland, 2017; Kemp et al., 2019
Open Access
The dating and provenance of glass fragments from the site of Serabit el-Khâdim, Sinai
(Elsevier, 2023-03-21) Kemp, Victoria; Delbey, Thomas; Shortland, Andrew J.
Serabit el-Khâdim, located on the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula, is the site of an ancient turquoise mine established in the early 12th Dynasty (c. 1985 BCE) and active between the 18th and 20th Dynasties (c. 1550–1136 BCE). The temple dedicated to Hathor at Serabit detail the number of offerings made, thereby recording the level of activity at Serabit during each reign. The last offerings were made by Rameses VI (1143–1136 BCE) corresponding with the collapse of the Late Bronze Age before the site was abandoned. 976 glass fragments were given to the Ashmolean Museum by Flinders Petrie following his 1905–6 excavations. 41 fragments from the collection were selected for LA-ICP-MS analysis with the aim of provenancing and dating an unknown collection of glass using composition and available stylistic features to further narrow the date of manufacture and therefore indicate the possible workshop of origin. The analysis showed that all 41 fragments are of Egyptian provenance and of standard Late Bronze Age high magnesia plant ash glass, except one fragment which is a unique example of natron blue glass applied as decoration to a white plant ash vessel body. Subtle compositional differences show that 18th Dynasty plant ash glass, plant ash Ramesside glass and natron Ramesside glass are all present, therefore corresponding with the known Egyptian activity at Serabit.
Open Access
Developing a methodology for the non-destructive analysis of British soft-paste porcelain
(2016) Dunster, J. M.; Shortland, Andrew J.; Domoney, K.
Soft-paste porcelain was produced in Britain in great quantities between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries. Due to industrial secrecy and the complexities of creating a product that would survive high-temperature firing, a range of paste recipes was employed by dozens of factories. This has resulted in an array of porcelains which vary in their elemental composition and mineralogy. This research carries out a meta-analysis of the published data for porcelain bodies and glazes and concludes that some discrimination can be achieved using the major and minor elemental composition of the bodies, and that for the glazes intra-factory variation is often greater than inter-factory variation in composition. A pilot investigation of the trace elemental composition of British porcelain is carried out using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy, which finds compositional groups corresponding to different sources of clay and silica raw materials. In the interests of preserving intact objects, there is recognised a need for a non-destructive method for analysing British porcelain, in order to provenance and date objects. Such a method would rely on data from the surface of the object, which is typically covered by glaze and over-glaze coloured enamels, and this research demonstrates that the formulae used for the glaze and enamels are in some cases characteristic of the factory, or workshop, and period at which they were created. Hand-Held XRF analysis is used to analyse the glaze, underglaze blue and polychrome enamels on a selection of porcelain objects from different factories, and compositional traits are identified that allow some factories and periods to be distinguished. Glass standards are developed, which are representative of the glaze and enamel composition, and which could allow X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data to be calibrated for fully quantitative results.
Open Access
Early medieval garnet-inlaid metalwork: a comparative analysis of disc brooches from early Wessex
(Cambridge University Press, 2020-09-11) Hamerow, Helena; Shortland, Andrew J.; Cameron, Esther
Garnet-inlaid metalwork was an emblem of elite culture in the early medieval North Sea world. This study compares three Anglo-Saxon garnet-inlaid brooches that are exceptionally similar in design and appearance. All three date to the seventh century, a period that saw the emergence of leading families that used such deluxe dress items to enhance their political position. The central hypothesis explored here is that the brooches were produced by the same, or by closely linked, goldsmiths working under the patronage of such a family. Integrated analysis was conducted using microscopy, CT scans, XRF and XRD, in part to establish whether the garnets used came from the same or different sources.
Open Access
Emulation and technological adaptation in late 18th century Cloisonné-style Chinese painted enamels
(Wiley, 2022-01-23) Norris, Dana; Braekmans, Dennis; Shortland, Andrew J.
Cloisonné-style motifs are rare and enigmatic in Chinese painted enamels because of their distinct technological development at the end of the 18th century. Five late Qianlong to Jiaqing period (1736–1820) Chinese painted enamels with cloisonné-style motifs are investigated using environmental scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Back-scattered electron images and elemental analysis are combined to study the decorative enamelled surface. The compositions of the layers within the enamel, that of the counter enamel and the polychrome decoration on the surface are determined and identified. Fluorine and elevated amounts of calcium were detected, indicating that fluorite was likely used as a raw material. The presence of this mineral, which is typical of Chinese cloisonné, confirms that these objects share both aesthetic and technological relationships.
Open Access
European cobalt sources identified in the production of Chinese Famille Rose porcelain
(Elsevier, 2017-02-16) Giannini, R.; Freeston, I. C.; Shortland, Andrew J.
The blue pigments on 112 fragments or small objects of Qing Dynasty Chinese, 95 of underglaze blue and white and 17 overglaze enamelled porcelains were analysed by LA-ICPMS. The underglaze blues on both blue and white and polychrome objects were created with a cobalt pigment that was rich in manganese with lesser nickel and zinc. This suite of accessory elements is generally considered to be characteristic of local, Chinese, sources of pigments. However, the blue enamels were very different. The cobalt pigment here has low levels of manganese and instead is rich in nickel, zinc, arsenic and bismuth. No Chinese source of cobalt with these characteristics is known, but they closely match the elements found in the contemporary cobalt source at Erzgebirge in Germany. Textual evidence has been interpreted to suggest that some enamel pigment technologies were transferred from Europe to China, but this is the first analytical evidence to be found that an enamel pigment itself was imported. It is possible that this pigment was imported in the form of cobalt coloured glass, or smalt, which might account for its use in enamels, but not in an underglaze, where the colour might be susceptible to running. Furthermore, the European cobalt would have given a purer shade of blue than the manganese-rich Chinese cobalt.
Open Access
Experimental mixing of natron and plant ash style glass: implications for ancient glass recycling
(Ingenta, 2017-02-14) Scott, R. B.; Neyt, B.; Brems, D.; Eekelers, K.; Shortland, Andrew J.; Degryse, Patrick
The practice of re-melting glass was well known, certainly from the Roman period onwards. This can be seen not only in ancient literary evidence but also in the archaeological evidence, collections of broken glass have been found in, for example, Pompeii (79 AD) and the Iulia Felix shipwreck (Third century AD). Elevated levels of certain transition metals in archaeological glasses are interpreted as indications of the mixing and/or recycling of different glasses. Assumptions have been made that all glasses could be recycled, but to what extent are these valid? Why does the evidence for the recycling of glass only occur from the Roman period onwards? From the middle of the First millennium BC to the Ninth century AD, natron glass was the predominant glass type in the Mediterranean and Europe, however, plant ash glass was still in use in some areas. To test the effects on the final product of mixing different composition glass types, experimental glasses were made by mixing varying quantities of replica plant ash glass, replica natron glass, and a modern glass. At low temperatures crystalline material formed in the products containing replica plant ash glass. As the plant ash glass content increased, so too did the amount of crystalline material produced. This is due to a combination of the glass compositions and the firing temperature. It appears that natron type glass can be more easily recycled at lower temperatures, although, if a high enough temperature is used then most glass types can be recycled. Early furnace technology, i.e.the vertical heating chamber furnace, may not have been able to achieve these high temperatures, hence the widespread practice of recycling did not begin until after the invention of glassblowing which required a change in the furnace technology to the use of a horizontal heating chamber furnace.
Open Access
Glass: Lapis Lazuli from the Kiln
(Friends of the American Society of Overseas Research, 2021-05-01) Shortland, Andrew J.
Today glass is all around us, it is familiar to us all in windows, vessels, spectacles, a myriad of uses. However, when glass was first made in the Late Bronze Age (LBA) around 1500 BCE it was very different.
Open Access
Governance under the shadow of the law: trading high value fine art
(Springer Verlag, 2019-09-20) Shortland, Anja; Shortland, Andrew J.
The market for paintings by well-known artists is booming despite widespread concern about art crime and difficulties in establishing provenance. Public law enforcement is imperfect, and court cases often are deemed problematic. So how is the thriving art market governed in practice? We analyze the protocols used by the top auction houses to identify and resolve problems of illicit supply—fakes, forgeries and items with defective legal titles—through the lens of institutional analysis. We uncover a polycentric private governance system in which different actors govern distinct but overlapping issue areas, motivated by profit, prestige, or the search for truth. When the financial stakes rise, opportunistic behavior undermines the credibility of private governance. We argue that as litigious, super-rich investors entered the art market, the interaction between public law and the traditional private governance system restricted the supply of “blue chip” art, driving the escalation of prices.
Open Access
High-resolution X-ray diffraction with no sample preparation
(International Union of Crystallography, 2017-07-01) Hansford, G. M.; Turner, S. M. R.; Degryse, Patrick; Shortland, Andrew J.
It is shown that energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) implemented in a back-reﬂection geometry is extremely insensitive to sample morphology and positioning even in a high-resolution conﬁguration. This technique allows high quality X-ray diffraction analysis of samples that have not been prepared and is therefore completely non-destructive. The experimental technique was implemented on beamline B18 at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in Oxfordshire, UK. The majority of the experiments in this study were performed with pre-characterized geological materials in order to elucidate the characteristics of this novel technique and to develop the analysis methods. Results are presented that demonstrate phase identiﬁcation, the derivation of precise unit-cell parameters and extraction of microstructural information on unprepared rock samples and other sample types. A particular highlight was the identiﬁcation of a speciﬁc polytype of a muscovite in an unprepared mica schist sample, avoiding the time-consuming and difﬁcult preparation steps normally required to make this type of identiﬁcation. The technique was also demonstrated in application to a small number of fossil and archaeological samples. Back-reﬂection EDXRD implemented in a high-resolution conﬁguration shows great potential in the crystallographic analysis of cultural heritage artefacts for the purposes of scientiﬁc research such as provenancing, as well as contributing to the formulation of conservation strategies. Possibilities for moving the technique from the synchrotron into museums are discussed. The avoidance of the need to extract samples from high-value and rare objects is a highly signiﬁcant advantage, applicable also in other potential research areas such as palaeontology, and the study of meteorites and planetary materials brought to Earth by sample-return missions.
Open Access
Identifying and evaluating atypical traits in Ancient Egyptian glass vessels using raw data analysis and expert assessment
(Equinox, 2021-05-23) Kemp, Victoria; Rohan, Rhiannon; Shortland, Andrew J.
The descriptive data pertaining to the remaining, largely intact, glass vessels produced in ancient Egypt between the reigns of Thutmosis IV (1401-1391 BC) and Pinudjem II (959-945 BC) contained in ‘Die Glasgefäße im Alten Ägypten’ [The Glass Vessels in Ancient Egypt], was extracted and standardised to create a dataset that could be analysed to determine the most typical and atypical features of vessels attributed to the New Kingdom in the corpus. Seven descriptive categories were assessed based on the percentage of incidence to determine if a vessel could be defined as statistically ‘atypical’. An expert’s evaluation was employed as a second assessment method. The two methods identified 76 vessels from a total number of 320 vessels and agreed on 16 vessels considered as atypical, all of which had little or no provenance information. The resulting 76 vessels identified as ‘atypical’ by the combined methods were subsequently compared with the respective provenance information and current location to determine patterns of collection and distribution throughout the world. The data showed that the Americas held the largest number of vessels that had little or no provenance data, including those held in private collections. The combined atypical tests identified that the Americas hold the largest proportion of atypical vessels. It is not the intention of this research to undermine the authenticity of vessels but to determine if data methods can be used to identify atypical traits in archaeological collections and to encourage the application of archaeometric testing to provide supporting information on statistically rare objects.