Experimental glasswork

Investigation of workshops at Amarna has led to recent experiments to test how the ancient Egyptians might have made and worked glass at the site.

Scene from the tomb of Khety at Beni Hassan: Two groups of two men, each ventilating an open fire with blowpipes. Photo: A. Hodgkinson.

The experimental manufacture of glass beads

During excavations at Amarna site M50.14–16, small fireplaces were uncovered alongside a large number of unfinished glass beads, some of which displayed trails of unfused glass. These findings prompted a series of archaeological experiments that were carried out in order to test how the domestic production of glass beads might have taken place during the Amarna Period.

The ancient Egyptian method of bead-making is believed to have been quite similar to modern techniques: Specifically, it likely involved the lamp-working method, where a rod of coloured glass is melted over a flame and wound around a metal mandrel. In New Kingdom Egypt, craftspeople probably made their beads over small fireplaces, using a narrow, intensely hot flame. However, because such fireplaces are often shallow and not easily recognized in the archaeological record, much information about ancient Egyptian bead-making technology has been lost.

To investigate whether it was possible to achieve the necessary temperatures of 850 to 950ºC over a small fireplace, Anna Hodgkinson and Miriam Bertram conducted a series of archaeological experiments in 2017 and 2019, during which several types of furnaces were tested. These took place in the area south-east of the excavation house at Amarna. Modern glass, imported from Europe, was used for the experiments, as were contemporary mandrels. After several trial runs, the most successful experiments involved a small, shallow fire pit lined with clay and fired with a mixture of charcoal and acacia wood. For ventilation, blowpipes were employed—tools depicted in tomb scenes from the Middle and New Kingdoms, such as the tombs of Amenemhat and Khety at Beni Hassan. This setup made it possible to achieve temperatures over 900°C and produce small glass beads. While these experiments do not reveal the exact type of firing structure or pit used by the Egyptians for glass bead production, they provide valuable insights into the logistics and challenges of this manufacturing process. The results offer a clearer understanding of the skills, materials and working conditions involved in domestic glass bead-making at Amarna during the New Kingdom.

**Left:** A blue glass bead being decorated with a white spiral. **Right:** Miriam Bertram and Cordula Werschkun ventilating the fire, Anna Hodgkinson preparing a bead.

**Left:** A dark blue, unfinished bead on a mandrel (both ancient, from M50.14, reconstruction). **Right:** Glass beads produced during the first successful experiment.

The glass-making experiments

During the 2023 autumn season at Amarna, experiments were conducted to produce glass from its raw materials, funded by a Rakow Grant of the Corning Museum of Glass, USA. The main aim was to investigate whether a small pit furnace is sufficient to produce glass from raw materials. If so, glass may have been manufactured at the household level, revising our understanding of the Egyptian glass industries. This was done to answer the following questions:

Can a reconstructed furnace based on the debris from M50.14–16 reach temperatures necessary to produce glass from raw materials (900–1,100°C), with a composition similar to that of New Kingdom Egyptian glass?
Are locally sourced raw materials (silica and plant ash) suitable for making glass?
Does a glass batch form more readily with a silica source consisting of crushed quartz pebbles or sand?

The experiments were based on material excavated in 2014 and 2017 at Amarna site M50.14–16, located in the southern area of the city. This site comprises two medium-sized houses situated in what was probably an open courtyard. More than 800 fragments of glass ingots, finished and unfinished beads, and other glass objects were found, in addition to one large fragment of a glass ingot, which, like the ingots from the Uluburun Shipwreck, fits into the ceramic cylindrical vessels found at Amarna.

A concentration of vitrified furnace debris was discovered on the surface of the courtyard M50.14. This debris is most probably related to a “glaze kiln” described by Woolley in the 1923 publication of the site: “a pit cut in sand 1.00 m. diam. by 0.50 m. deep, full of burnt brick, glass and glaze slag,[…]”. This debris comprises fragments of vitrified mud brick and clay (the sacrificial lining of a furnace), together with angular—partially glazed—sandstone fragments. It is believed that the latter were placed inside the furnace to support the cylindrical vessels, aid the gradual annealing of the glass, and possibly be ground up for raw material. This vitrified furnace debris is also known from the two large furnaces at site O45.1 (excavated by Paul Nicholson). Analysis of glass fragments from O45.1, together with experimental archaeology, has demonstrated that raw glass may have been made there.

Based on this material, the team set out to establish whether glass might have been made, and not only worked, at site M50.14–16. Two initial experimental sessions were conducted in September 2023, using a small, clay-lined furnace pit filled with sandstone fragments. Locally made, lime-coated cylindrical vessels (supplied by inspector Mohamed Ibrahim) and laboratory crucibles were used to hold the raw ingredients, which had been sourced locally:

A silica/quartz source: Both fired and ground-up quartz pebbles and fine sand from near the South Tombs and from the Great Aten Temple were used.
An alkali flux (to reduce the necessary firing temperature of the quartz and to provide further lime as a stabilizer): A variety of salt-tolerant plants harvested in a wadi near the Workmen’s Village at Amarna; these were dried and incinerated prior to use.

Collecting salt-tolerant plants in a *wadi* near the Workmen’s Village.

**Left:** The vessels containing the ground-up ingredients for glass. **Right:** The product of the second experiment: a cake of semi-fused material.

A variety of batches were created for both firing processes, placed into the furnace pit, and covered with potsherds and clay. The fire was built up around the vessels and maintained over several hours while fuel and temperature were constantly measured. During the first experiment, between 1,300 and 1,400°C were reached for around an hour, although most of the time the temperature remained around 800°C. During the second experiment, the temperature was more consistently between 900 and 1,200°C.

Unfortunately, none of the ingredients fused during the first experiment, while a small, relatively thin cake of a frit-like material formed during the second experiment. In this case, the ingredients (sand from the South Tombs and plant ash of Zygophyllum sp.) had reacted and at least partially fused. The experiments conducted at Amarna in the autumn of 2023 did not result in the production of glass, although an initial product was produced. These experiments are ongoing at the time of writing and will be continued in 2025.

Anna Hodgkinson & Miriam Bertram

Experimental glasswork

The experimental manufacture of glass beads

The glass-making experiments

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