From Glass to Glaze in al-Andalus: Local Invention and Technological Transfer

We would like to thank Isabel Larrea and the Gerencia de Urbanismo del Ayuntamiento de Cordoba for providing the samples analysed from the Cordoba potters' quarter. This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie scheme (grant agreement IGATO no. 702019 to ES), an ERC Consolidator Grant (grant agreement no. 647315 to Nadine Schibille), and from MINECO (Spain) (grant no. MAT2016-77753-R to Trinitat Pradell). The funding organization had no influence on the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.It has long been assumed that lead glazing technology preceded glassmaking in the Western world and that the technological transfer was from glazes to glass. Here, we present new evidence for the reverse, the indigenous innovation of glassmaking and its transfer to glazes in early Islamic al-Andalus (Spain). Compositional analyses show that Islamic lead glazes from Córdoba are intimately related to a distinct type of high-lead glass, suggesting a connection between the two technologies. The archaeological remains from a pottery workshop indicate that the glazing process initially involved the production of a lead glass and is not linked to earlier Roman or other contemporary glazing technologies. The data also demonstrate that the potters not only used the same materials and techniques but borrowed stylistic and decorative models from glassmaking.European Commission 702019 European Research Council (ERC) 647315Spanish Government MAT2016-77753-