Blue/Green Glass Bottles from Roman Britain: Square and Other Prismatic Forms: Project Database, Bibliography, Figures, and Photographs
H. E. M. Cool, Barbican Research Associates, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1117194. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Barbican Research Associates unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Dr
H. E. M.
Cool
Director
Barbican Research Associates
16 Lady Bay Road
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 5BJ
England
Tel: 0115 9819 065
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 6216
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1117194
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises images and a database documenting examples of blue/green bottles from Roman Britain, more specifically the base patterns of glass vessels. These outputs are part of a long running project conducted by Hilary Cool from Barbican Research Associates.
Square bottles came into use in the AD 60s and rapidly became the commonest glass vessel form in the empire. For the next two centuries their fragments dominate all glass assemblages. Hitherto this material has not been exploited to any great extent because there has been no close chronological framework.
This project has developed a classification scheme for the moulded base patterns which allows the chronological development to be seen. With this in place it is possible to explore how the sizes and capacities changed with time. The British data are set within the context of the bottles from the rest of the western empire, and it can be seen that the different provinces favour different base patterns in a systematic fashion.
Previously it has been assumed that base patterns reflect long distance trade of the bottles and their contents. Now it can be seen that the main driving force for the distribution of bottles with similar distinctive base patterns is most probably the movements of military units, and that most bottles were made locally.
An exploration of common capacities indicates that these were shared with glass bath flasks and it is proposed that, just as bath flasks were oil containers for hygiene purposes, the square bottles became so common because they were the favoured vessel for household oil. The chronological trajectory of square bottles, bath flasks and the Spanish olive oil industry evidenced by Dressel 20 amphoras are identical, but previously unremarked upon.
The results of this investigation are being published in two parts. The full discussion is published in Cool, H.E.M. 2024. Blue/green Glass Bottles from Roman Britain: square and other prismatic forms, Archaeopress Roman Archaeology. The section published here provides the full data as: a database, the full bibliography for the database, the rubbings of the base patterns, drawings of the examples from Britain, and a guide to the classification which includes the detailed metadata for the database.
