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Opaque red glass tesserae, ideas on formation, distribution, and re-use

Aaron Shugar (Institute of Archaeology, UCL)

This paper presents data from the analysis of opaque red glass tesserae from three mosaics in the Byzantine city of Beit Shean, Israel. Results of analysis show the opaque red glass used in each mosaic to have different base glass and additives compositions. The glass was also found to be very heterogeneous and dirty. In addition, visual examination of the assemblage of opaque red glass tesserae, showed that many pieces have multiple colour near the cut edges.

It is suggested that the production of opaque red glass for tesserae was not as complicated as the production of opaque red glass for vessels. It is likely that the formation of the glass batch actually produced multiple layers of different coloured glass that could all be used as tesserae. The glass produced for each mosaic was likely from a single batch. Tesserae was stored for reuse, not re-melting, in a location with access to all areas of the city.