What sort of glass are we dealing with?
Glass is often uncovered during excavation of archaeological sites or in the context of marine or dredging projects, while glass artifacts can also turn up as stray finds. The material is an important indicator of past culture, trade, links, chronology and origin.
Glass may be found in the form of glass beads or bangles on prehistoric sites, often, but not exclusively, in burial contexts. Glass beads, bangles, decorated glass studs, glass vessel fragments and millefiori are typical finds on habitation sites from the early to late medieval periods.
Glassworking evidence with coloured glass rods, often cabled or fused, along with clay moulds for glass artifacts and kiln waste, is also found in the medieval period, typically in contexts dating from the mid-first millennium AD to the early 2nd millennium. Enameled metalwork, where coloured opaque glass is fused to a metal base, often decorated with millefiori, is also mainly dated to this period in Ireland though it is earlier elsewhere.
Glass is also a feature of the early modern and modern periods. From the late 16th/17th century, glass vessels with Continental parallels are found in Ireland. Though Irish glass industries were founded in Ireland from the 17th century, glass was still imported from abroad. Bottles, particularly wine and chemists bottles, predominate from that time. Ornamental glass artifacts, often miniatures, inspired by Continental fashion or imported from the Continent, have come to light from 17th/18th century contexts. Glass in many forms is found widely in the 19th and 20th centuries.
