Chemical composition of tableware glass from the city of Karakabak (Kazakhstan)
Қарақабақ қонысынан (Қазақстан) табылған шыны ыдыстардың химиялық құрамы
Химический состав посудного стекла городища Каракабак (Казахстан)
Valiulina S. Astafiev A. Bogdanov E. Nuretdinova A. Krasilnikov P.
31 December 2025Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Kazakhstan Archeology
2025#2025Issue 4231 - 249 pp.
The article presents the first results of the chemical composition analysis of glassware fragments from the Karakabak settlement. This major trading polis on the northeastern coast of the Caspian Sea stood at the crossroads of trade routes in the first half of the 1st millennium AD. Using scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), the composition of nine glass samples was determined. Based on the concentrations of glass-forming elements and their ratios, two technological traditions characteristic of the major glassmaking centers of the Migration Period were identified: the Roman tradition, represented by soda glass, and the Sasanian tradition, whose glass was produced using ash from halophytic plants of the arid zone. A clear division of the samples into two groups of imported glass, distinguished by their chemical composition, not only reveals the principal partners involved in international trade in the Aral–Caspian region, but also enhances the potential for refining the relative chronology of the site.
chemical composition , Eastern coast of the Caspian Sea , intercultural interaction , Karakabak , Roman glass , Sasanian glass , SEM-EDS , the Great Migration Period
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Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Aktau, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Kazan State Institute of Culture, Kazan, Russian Federation
Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Russian Federation
Kazan Federal University
Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Kazan State Institute of Culture
Institute of Archaeology named after A.Kh. Khalikov of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan
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