User:Natsue Hayward/sandbox

Contents

 * 1) Ancient glass discovered in Japan
 * 2) Classifications of ancient glass discovered in Japan
 * 3) Bibliography

1. Ancient glass discovered in Japan
In Japan, as in other parts of the world, glass played an important role as a social, religious and economical commodity as well as for practical use. It was also a sign of power and wealth, and even thought to have magical power.

There are different groups of ancient glass material discovered in Japan. During the Palaeolithic (-12500 BC) and Jōmon period (12500 BC-500 BC), hunter-gatherer people made sharp tools from natural volcanic glass called obsidian [1]. This lifestyle was followed by rice cultivation during the Yayoi period (500 BC-250 AD), when there was a migration of people from the southern China to Japan [1]. Around mid-Yayoi period, Chinese glass started to be brought to Japan, and glassmaking knowhow spread slowly side during the Yayoi and Kofun periods (250 AD-600 AD). Imported Chinese glass was often re-casted into beads during the late Yayoi period [2]. A vast amount of Indo-Pacific beads were also imported from southeast Asia during the Yayoi and Kofun periods via the Silk Road maritime trading network [3], possibly via Korea (Silla) [4]. During the Nara period (710-794), Sassanian glass objects were brought by Japanese envoys sent to the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Some were stored in Shōsōin imperial repository in Nara [5] and others were found at prominent Shintō ritual sites such as Okinoshima [6]. It was not until the Asuka period (600 AD-710 AD) that glassmaking using domestic resources was fully established in Japan [7].

2. Classification of ancient glass discovered in Japan
The following list the types of ancient glass discovered in Japan:


 * Obsidian (natural volcanic glass)
 * Chinese glass (lead barium glass and lead glass)
 * Indo-Pacific glass (potash glass)
 * Roman glass (soda-lime glass, e.g. natron glass)
 * Sassanian glass (soda-lime glass, e.g. plant ash glass)
 * Japanese made glass (imports and glass made after technique transfer)

Obsidian (natural volcanic glass)
During the late Palaeolithic to Jōmon, obsidian was collected from the surroundings and shaped into sharp objects such as arrowheads and knives. The Jōmon people were settled and also had some distribution networks [1]. Major sites are Shirataki and Oketo in Hokkaidō from where obsidian was distributed as far as Sakhalin and Russian Maritime Provinces [8]. Obsidians from Hoshikuso (Nagano) in the central highlands of Honshū were also distributed to the surrounding areas [1].

Chinese glass (lead barium glass and lead glass)
Lead barium glass is known to be the oldest glass from China. It originates from the Warring State period and Han Dynasties (when). It differs from the West’s soda lime glass [9]. It is thought that the oldest artificial found glass in Japan was this type of glass brought from the Han Dynasties to Japan sometime between the end of the early Yayoi period to the mid-Yayoi period [3]. High lead glass production then evolved into potash glass making [10]. This glassmaking technique is thought to have come from southern Han to northern Kyūshū [2].

Indo-Pacific Glass (potash glass)
There are a vast number of glass beads discovered in Japan, many of them found in the burial mounds of the Yayoi and Kofun periods [11]. Beads were used to decorate dead bodies [12] and vessels were offered to the afterlife [13]. Analysis of the chemical composition and isotope ratios, matched with potash glass beads and glass objects along the Southeast Asia via Silk Road maritime route [4] [3] [14]. They may have been brought by direct exchange with southeast Asia, or via Korea (Kingdom of Silla) which traded iron for glass beads extensively [15]. Most potash glasses discovered in Japan are either light blue in colour due to copper or dark blue due to cobalt [3]. Potash glass beads were distributed from Okinawa to southern Hokkaido, until the 3rd century AD [14].

Roman Glass (soda-lime glass: e.g. natron glass)
In Japan about 500 Roman glass items have been discovered, which were made with silica and soda (e.g. natron). Natron glass is found in Japan, and was produced from the 2nd century (second half of the late Yayoi period) and the first half of the 5th century (mid-Kofun period) [16].

Sassanian glass (soda-lime glass: plant ash)
Sassanian glasses were made in 5th-7th century in Iran with plant ash soda. The objects and sherds found in Japan are at prominent locations, such as the Shōsōin imperial repository in Nara, and the burial mounds and ritual sites at Okinoshima island in Kyūshū and Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto. Most are transparent or translucent, plain in colour, and often have facets [6]. These were brought to Japan via the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasties [5] [6].

Glass production sites
Partially manufactured ingot glass was brought from China to Japan for finishing into beads during the late Yayoi Period. It is thought that the earliest glassmaking site was at Sugu-Okamoto in northern Kyūshū where imported Chinese glass ingots were recast into beads in a small scale, however, they continued to import finished glass objects [2]. Recasting spread to the Izumo and Tango regions along the Japan Sea during the Yayoi period. It was only later in the Asuka period that glassmaking with domestic ingredients was fully established at the Asukaike site in Nara [7].

3. Bibliography
1. Steinhaus, W. and S. Kaner, eds. An illustrated companion to Japanese archaeology. 1st ed. 2016, Archaeopress. v, 344 p.

2. Tanizawa, A., 須玖岡本遺跡出土ガラス小玉の調査 (A Research on the Glass Beads from the Sugu-Okamoto Site), in 九州大学総合研究博物館研究報告 (Bulletin of Kyusu University Museum). 2012: Fukuoka, Japan. p. 69-78.

3. Koezuka, T., 遺物各論　ガラス１－６, in 考古学ハンドブック, T. Kobayashi, Editor. 2007, 新書館: Tokyo.

4. Lee, I., Characteristics of Early Glasses in Ancient Korea with Respect to Asia's Maritime Bead Trade, in Ancient Glass Research Along The Silk Road, R.H. Brill and S. Tian, Editors. 2009, World Scientific: New Jersey. p. 183-189.

5. Museum, N.N., Treasures, in Annual Exhibition of Shōso-in Treasures N.N. Museum, Editor. 2016. p. 7-12.

6. Priestman, S., ''The Silk Road or the Sea? Sasanian and Islamic Exports to Japan.'' Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 2016. 3(1): p. 1-35.

7. Tamura, T., ガラス玉類の考古科学的研究. 飛鳥資料館研究図録, 2016. 19.

8. Kuzmin, Y.V., M.D. Glascock, and M. Izuho, The geochemistry of the major sources of archaeological obsidian on hokkaido island (Japan): Shirataki and oketo. Archaeometry, 2013. 55(3): p. 355-369.

9. Brill, R.H., Opening Remarks and Setting the Stage: Lecture at the 2005 Shanghai International Workshop on the Archaeology of Glass along the Silk Road, in Ancient Glass Research Along The Silk Road, R.H. Brill and S. Tian, Editors. 2009, World Scientific: New Jersey. p. 109-147.

10. Gan, F., The Silk Road and Ancient Chinese Glass, in Ancient Glass Research Along The Silk Road, R.H. Brill and S. Tian, Editors. 2009, World Scientific: New Jersey. p. 41-108.

11. Higo, H., 墓制から見た弥生時代の近畿北部. Historical Journal of Japan by Osaka City University, 2009. 12: p. 41-56.

12. Kotera, C., 弥生時代の副葬に見られる玉類の呪的使用とその背景 (The magical use of beads for burial and its background in the yayoi period). 東京大学人文社会系研究科死生学研究, Journal of Death and Life Studies, 2006. 8: p. 453-486.

13. Abe, Y., R. Shikaku, and I. Nakai, Ancient glassware travelled the Silk Road: Nondestructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of tiny glass fragments believed to be sampled from glassware excavated from Niizawa Senzuka Tumulus No. 126, Japan. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018. 17: p. 212-219.

14. Koezuka, T. and K. Yamasaki, Scientific Study of the Glass Objects Found in Japan from the Third Century BC to the Third Centruy AD in Ancient Glass Research Along The Silk Road, R.H. Brill and S. Tian, Editors. 2009, World Scientific: New Jersey. p. 221-229.

15. Nojima, H., 鉄からみた弥生・古墳時代の日本海交流. 考古学からみた日本海沿岸の地域性と交流, 2005.

16. Tamura, T.O., Katsuhiko, Archaeometrical investigation of natron glass excavated in Japan. Microchemical Journal, 2016. 126: p. 7-17.