Colors from the Past: Ion Beam Analyses on Glass Finds Excavated at the Late Iron Age Settlement from Tinosu, Prahova County, Romania

This article discusses the results of Ion Beam Analyses (IBA) on 20 glass items excavated at the Late Iron Age site from Tinosu, Prahova County, Romania, broadly dated to the 2nd c. BC - 2nd c. AD. Most glass fragments originate from naturally colored or intentionally colored tableware, either monochrome (green or blue) or polychrome (mosaic millefiori glass of brown or green matrix with red and yellow trails or transparent blue glass matrix splashed with opaque white spots). The typological analysis indicated that some vessels fragments belong to Isings 2, 5, 37, and 81 forms, argument constraining the chronology of the discovery context from the 1st c. BC to the 1st c. AD. A bracelet fragment and a bead were also analyzed. The compositional pattern is typical for the coeval Hellenistic and Roman glass finds; several examples of items manufactured using plant ash are evidenced, too. IBA results, corroborated with archaeological information, indicated that several fragments originate from the same vessel. Chemical analyses supported the underlying archaeological hypothesis that the glass items arrived to the Iron Age settlement from nowadays Tinosu through exchanges between the local populations and the Hellenistic and the Roman world.