The Transformation of Glass Debris from Apollonia-Arsuf (Byzantine Sozousa)

The site of Apollonia-Arsuf (Byzantine Sozousa) is located on the Mediterranean coast, some 17 km north of Jaffa (Joppa) and 34 km south of Caesarea Maritima, Israel. The site has been excavated continuously over the last 40 years by the Apollonia-Arsuf Excavation Project. Once a modest coastal settlement, it became the main urban centre of the southern Sharon plain in Byzantine times (4th-7th centuries AD). It was during that period that the site became a major centre of primary (and secondary) glass production (Freestone, 2020), with several excavated primary glass furnaces and additionally documented ones on its terrain (Tal, Jackson-Tal and Freestone, 2004; Freestone, Jackson-Tal and Tal, 2008; Tal, 2020, pp.60-80 passim).