Italian leech-shaped glass fibula bow from the Hallstatt period discovered in Poland

Abstract

The article presents the results of a laboratory analysis of the glass of a leech-shaped fibula bow discovered in a Hallstatt C grave in Gorszewice, Greater Poland. The fibula comes from Italy and is dated sometime to the end of the 8th or the 7th century BC. Both of the inner sides with a yellowish colour and the external side that appeared dark blue, nearly black, were examined. Like low magnesium and medium potassium glass of glassy faience present in the Hallstatt C period, the glass of the Gorszewice fibula bow is characterized by medium contents of K₂O, high Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃, and a relatively high level of B₂O₃, TiO₂ and BaO. The inner and outer glass of the Gorszewice fibula bow have an identical, or nearly the same chemical composition. Higher levels of several oxides occurred in the dark glass, indicating that they must have been introduced with the colourant. The yellowish glass was not coloured intentionally; its colour is the result of the presence of iron compounds in the sand.