Findings That Shows Glass was Discovered in Mesopotamia

Abstract

Through excavations in many different countries, the science of archaeology makes important contributions to the determination of the origin, usage patterns and distribution areas of the material remains produced by humans. The origins of the use of glass, which has an important place in our daily life, and the way glass material has traveled, of course, is an important subject worth researching. The aim of this study is to share the first and primary data on the origin of the use of glass as a material. Glass, as you all know, is a liquid material, but it doesn't behave like the fluids we know. Because glass is a fascinating and unique material that cannot be included in either the realm of liquids or the realm of solids. It has fascinated countless people since our ancestors produced the first glass thousands of years ago. Despite all that time, it has not grown old and still continues to fascinate many people. It is defined as a transparent, translucent or opaque, amorphous, artificial material that solidifies without crystallization, formed by melting glass silica, potash or soda, lime and other additives together. Glass, which has become an integral part of contemporary life after the technological and artistic stages recorded in the past thousands of years, is an important material that is completely natural but created with human hands and contribution, symbolizing the success of human beings in benefiting from natural resources with intelligence and creativity. We learn from ancient sources and cuneiform tablets that the first written data to form a basis for the production of glass, which we do not know exactly where, how and when it was produced. Glass-like shiny objects have been used in the Near East since the 5th millennium BC. The earliest records of glass making technology were found in cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia, while the earliest tablet containing a formula for glazing was found in Tell-Umar on the Tigris River. In this tablet dating to the 17th century BC, it is recorded that glassmaking was a well-structured tradition. It is known that the first glass was produced in Mesopotamia around the 3rd millennium BC and artificial glass was first used as a layer of glaze covering stone and ceramic beads in Mesopotamia in 3500-3000 BC. In 2500 BC, beads and amulets were made entirely of glass material. It has been observed that after 1500 BC, glass containers were produced in Mesopotamia in Western Asia, during the period of the Kingdom of Mitanni, using the inner mould technique and that the glass containers produced in Mesopotamia spread over a wide area in Iran, Elam, Babylon in Eastern Syria, Palestine on the Mediterranean coast, Cyprus, and in the Middle East and Near East, including Mycenae in Greece. Glass is a versatile material that has been in constant evolution over the centuries. When we examine the chronological development of glass; It is understood that this material has been functionalized in small pieces for many years and has become an indispensable part of daily life today, as it was in the past, and preserves its feature of being a material that is loved and used.