Ḥannā Diyāb: Kitāb al-Siyāḥah (The Book of Travels) (ed. Johannes Stephan, trans. Elias Muhanna) (Library of Arabic Literature.) 2 vols; xlii, 328 pp., vii, 330 pp. £46. New York: New York University Press, 2021. ISBN 978 1 479 89230 3.

Abstract

Andalusian glassmaking tradition. The chapter is without doubt the most interesting and fascinating section of the whole book, for it provides a fruitful diachronic analysis of the technological developments and changes in supply patterns of the Iberian Peninsula from the late Roman period to the eleventh–twelfth century. The discussion encompasses data on various glass assemblages including the material from the ninth-century workshop in Pechina, from several sites in Córdoba dated between the eighth and tenth centuries, as well as a brief comparison with some later finds from Ciudad de Vascos and Albalat (tenth–twelfth century). The most interesting and illuminating conclusion is the evidence for the development of a new Andalusian glassmaking technology based on the use of local lead slag from silver or lead mines, as the analysis of eighthor ninth-century glass from Šaqunda surprisingly demonstrates. This technology seems to have paved the way for an even more advanced Andalusian glass production which exploited litharge instead of lead slag, as exemplified by the comprehensive tenth-century assemblage from Madinat al-Zahra, and resulting in a clearer and probably more easily workable soda ash lead glass. Schibille uses not only the analytical evidence but cites the written record which claims the invention of a “new glass” in al-Andalus in the tenth century. Compositional discriminants for later Iberian plant ash glass are also suggested, particularly elevated lithium concentrations, combined with high thorium to zirconium ratios. While the nature of this research still feels preliminary at points and certainly in need of additional analytical data which will target some of the specific insights suggested by the author, this is without doubt a very comprehensive and useful study of glass production and supply during the early Islamic period. Its scope will mainly assist scholars interested in the compositional study of Islamic glass, but it will prove helpful for scholars in the broader fields of archaeology and history, as it seeks out fruitful links between different sub-disciplines. In this respect, the link with the archaeology – and not just the history – of the different regions investigated is sometimes lost or discussed only superficially, and a closer connection between compositional and archaeological studies may have provided even more informative insights into the subject. Nevertheless, this book offers a very useful starting point for anyone wishing to study Islamic glass and willing to explore the geopolitical trends that impacted its production and trade.