Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections ed. by Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections ed. by Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux Ian C. Freestone Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections. Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux, eds. Singapore: Springer, 2021. xxvi + 557 pp., 59 b&w + 245 colour illustrations. Hardcover US $160, ISBN 9789811636554; softcover US $140, ISBN 9789811636578; ebook US $109, ISBN 9789811636561. The marked expansion in the archaeometry of glass which took place in the first decade of the twenty-first century has led to an explosion of interest in glass beads and bangles. Desirable, robust, and portable, they hold important information on trade and connectivity which can be revealed by the analysis of their chemical constituents. While this potential of chemical analysis has been understood for decades (e.g., Basa et al. 1991; Brill 1987; Singh 1989), it is only recently that it has been fully realized, largely due to the application of the technique of laser ablation inductively-coupled mass spectrometry (LAICP-MS). This method allows a rapid, accurate, and precise analysis of around 60 elements in glass artifacts and, critically, is essentially non-destructive, leaving only a sub-millimetre scar on the surface of the artifact. Where earlier typological work inferred likely long-distance connections (Francis 1990), chemistry has confirmed them. The resultant growth in understanding has served to emphasise the important role of the Indian sub-continent, which was arguably the major producer of glass beads in the last two millennia. Indian beads are found as far afield as eastern Africa and northwestern Europe and are also widely distributed in southeastern and southern Asia. Furthermore, the continuation into the modern period of traditional methods of making and working with [End Page 257] glass and glazes allows important insights into the methods and organization of the production of glass ornaments through ethnographic observation and literary accounts. The present book brings together recent and ongoing work on the archaeology, archaeometry, and ethnoarchaeology of South Asian glass, edited by two leading researchers in their respective areas. The chapters are developed from lectures delivered by the eminent list of authors at a conference in Gandhinagar in 2019 and may be considered a good reflection of the state of the art. However, this substantial 550-page book is far from a standard conference volume. It strives not only to provide a comprehensive coverage of its subject matter, but also to serve as an introduction to the study of glass by including a number of chapters by established researchers on broader issues; by and large, it is very successful. The book opens with several chapters providing introductory and background information. Rehren opens with a summary of the current state of play in our understanding of the origins of glass in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In the context of the present volume, Rehren's chapter in particular brings home how important the analysis of glass and manufacturing debris from Late Bronze Age production sites has been to current understanding, although at present evidence from production sites in South Asia is largely lacking. The following chapter by Gratuze, Schibille, and Pactat covers the radical changes in glassmaking technology that occurred in Europe and West Asia in the later first millennium C.E., in particular the transition from the use of soda from the Natron lakes of Egypt to soda obtained from the ashes of halophytic plants. Not only is this an outstanding example of the application of chemical analysis to a technical change, focusing on chronological and regional variations, but it also provides a good introduction to the major glass types which moved along the silk road from West to East and which are encountered later on in the volume. Kenoyer provides a long, comprehensive review of major importance on the faience and glazed steatite of the Indus tradition, focusing on Harappa. This brings together new work and insights with a substantial but dispersed literature, much of which has been generated by the author and his collaborators and which is not always easily accessible. Kenoyer is skeptical about the identification of so-called "steatite faience" or glazed crushed steatite. He calls for more detailed examination of samples removed from objects...