THE FIRST GLASS OF AL-ANDALUS: ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE EARLY ISLAMIC SITE OF CABEZO PARDO (ALICANTE)

This paper discusses the LA-ICP-MS analysis of two well dated glass objects from Cabezo Pardo (Alicante), the first ones to be published in the Iberian Peninsula that date to the early Emiral period. The data characterise the fragments as soda lime silica glasses made using natron as flux. Compositionally, they correspond to two of the most widespread late antique primary glass production groups: HIMT and Foy 2. The first sample, a glass lamp, may be the result of the continuous use of an ancient artefact, perhaps related to the Mozarabic and/or Muladi population that inhabited the site. The second object, possibly a bottle, was made from recycled glass. Its chemical signature is consistent with the so-called Foy-2.2 group, a scarce composition that has previously been documented in France and Italy. It can date between the second half of the 7th century and the end of the 8th century CE.