PIXE analysis of V–XVI century glasses from the archaeological site of San Martino di Ovaro (Italy)

The analysis of 42 glass fragments, excavated in the Italian archaeological site of San Martino di Ovaro, that includes a palaeochristian church dated from the V–VI century, has been done using the PIXE technique in a fully non-destructive way without any sample preparation. The results have been validated with a set of standards and using PIGE data acquired in parallel. The data of 29 of the 42 glasses indicate that an earlier group of samples (window sheets and sacred vessels, dated from the V–VI century) is typical of the Roman technology and can be associated to a Levantine production of natron glass. The blue glasses of this group are all window sheets coloured with cobalt, probably from the Near-East. The remaining heterogeneous samples (lamps, necklaces, cups) are related by their type and function and by the different compositions, to the later use of the site as a market place. The natron glasses of San Martino di Ovaro provide new data for the understanding of the changes in the glass industry in North-eastern Italy and nearby regions across the fall of the Western Roman Empire.