Andreas Kronz
Phone: +49-551-399336
Address: Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der
Universität Göttingen
Goldschmidtstraße 1
37077 Göttingen
Germany
Address: Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der
Universität Göttingen
Goldschmidtstraße 1
37077 Göttingen
Germany
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Papers by Andreas Kronz
ISSN 0947-6229
located at the Lower Saxony Institute for historical coastal Research, was part of the German Research Foundation’s Priority Programme 1630 »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages«. Geophysical
Prospections and subsequent archaeological excavations uncovered several large trade settlements on the island of Föhr at Witsum, Nieblum and Goting, yielding a rich spectrum of import related goods, including
a remarkable number of glass objects 1 (fig. 1). While glass objects, namely vessel glass and beads, were already known to occur in early medieval graves on the North Frisian Islands, there are only two other
settlements with vessel glass. Excavations and find collection by the State Archaeological Department of Schleswig-Holstein had previously uncovered two settlement sites at Tinnum and Wenningstedt on the
island of Sylt, which also possess a large number of glass objects. These recent findings indicated the unexpected magnitude of glass objects in the early medieval North Frisian trade and the possibilities for research
into the islands’ trade connections and local consumption. The North Sea Harbour Project was thus invited by M. Dodt and A. Kronz to join in the programme of chemical glass analysis conducted by the Project »The
early Medieval Harbour of Cologne – Place of Production and export of glass«. 41 glass objects from the North Frisian trade settlements were chosen for chemical analysis in order to answer research questions raised by both projects: Where did the North Frisian glass objects originate and is
there a trade connection between the glass production centres at Cologne as well as in the Rhineland and the North Sea coastal areas? Which kind of glass was used? Was vessel glass recycled for a local glass bead production?
This paper aims to provide an overview on the North Frisian sites with finds of vessel glass, the analysed find material and the conclusions drawn from the chemical analysis.