Chronological investigation of prehistoric vitreous materials from Veneto by archaeometric analysis

The glass finds from two Bronze Age settlements located in Veneto (Northen Italy) have been investigated: Fondo Paviani (Verona) and Montebello Vicentino (Vicenza). The present study aims to chemical and physical characterisations of the archaeological finds and, primarily, to answer to chronological questions. The main questions are: 1) may the compositional change from HMG to LMHK glasses date back before FBA stricto sensu? 2) are glasses from the surface layers of Fondo Paviani related to the age of the settlement: late MBA3/RBA- early FBA? If this is true, to wich phase may they be referred? Finally 3) are the scraps found at Fondo Paviani during the archaeological survey related to local production? The glass samples have been characterized by SEM-EDS, EPMA and computerized 2D-image analyses. The results may be summarized in three main points: 1) the bead from the excavation of Montebello Vicentino, belonging to the transition between RBA and FBA, is a HMG glass. This confirms that LMHK glass did not exist before the FBA strictu sensu; 2) measured texture and the LMHK-type glass composition of a bead from surface layer of Fondo Paviani allow us to unambiguously date the bead to FBA period; 3) based on their composition, the glass scraps from the same archaeological survey cannot be dated to the Bronze Age. The glass scraps therefore are not related to local production. Actually one is a colourless glass with LMG composition, and the others are early-20th century blast furnace slags produced in the FE smelting process. It is argued that the presence of a well-detailed age-composition relationship, archaeometric analyses may greatly aid the archaeological interpretation of puzzling finds.