TRANSLUCENT GLASS BEADS FROM COLCHIS IN THE EARLY IRON AGE: EVIDENCE FROM TSAISHI CEMETERY

Abstract

This paper is about a translucent glass feature, namely beads found in N1 and N2 collective burial pits at Tsaishi cemetery, located in western Georgia, Central Colchis. Artefacts are preserved in the Dadiani Palace History and Architectural Museum. Among finds of vitreous material the discovery of translucent glass artefacts in pale or relatively intense colours is a new phenomenon within the archaeological sites of Georgia during the first quarter of the first millennium BC.

Through a multidisciplinary study of this new type of glassware, we were able to discuss the local and external factors that contributed to its appearance in Iron Age Colchis. In the initial stage a typological study of beads was carried out. Four types and eight subtypes were distinguished and the characteristics and persistence of certain types in different chronological contexts were examined. A comparative analysis was carried out between the contemporary translucent glass products found in the archaeological sites of Georgia and the Caucasus, as well as the Near East, the Mediterranean and Etruria.

The next step involved laboratory analysis to determine the primary raw materials used for the production of Tsaishi glasses and the main pigments used for their colouring.

Key words: Glass; Translucent; Bead; Colchis; Iron Age; Transcaucasia;