The value of transparency

Glass vessels in Early Medieval Europe

This page and the ‘Map of Material Culture’ page provide access to the data on glass vessels in the Rural Riches database.  
Created by Marieke van Winkelhoff , Frans Theuws and David Schaper.  
The data were collected by all members of the Rural Riches team.

A new system for describing the forms (types) of glass vessels.

Collecting data on glass vessels was not possible using existing typological systems. We created a new catalogue of glass vessel forms using the existing systems. Please read the introduction before you use the information in the database

We defined 17 basic forms and a varying number of sub forms of each basic form. Click on one of the basic forms below (you might try RR 1 bottles) and you will get: 1. information on how many vessels of that form are in the database; 2. the distribution of that type on the map above; and 3. images of the subtypes defined.

Click on one of the images of a subtype and you get: 1. The number of vessels of that subtype in the database; 2. the information sheet of that type as it is in the catalogue of glass vessel types; 3. the distribution of this subtype on the map above; 4 (scroll down) a list of sites where this subtype was found. A click on the name of the site brings you to the site page at the bottom of which (scroll down) is a list with glass vessels found at that site.

What do we record of glass vessels?

It is good to know what we recorded in the database of glass vessels. Go to Manuals and download: NEME 4. Manual ensembles and finds. On pages 27-28 you find a description of the field in the database.