Investigating indigenous glass production in Nigeria, STARC, The Cyprus Institute
The study of ancient glass technology has focused mostly on the Middle East, medieval Europe and South and Southeast Asia, with sub-Sahara Africa regarded as a consumer of imported glass from outside the subcontinent, lacking the knowledge of glass-making prior to the modern period. However, archaeological investigations at Igbo-Olokun in Ile-Ife, Nigeria have shown that glass was locally made by the 11th century at the latest – a production which lasted several centuries. Support from the A. G. Leventis Foundation has helped the ongoing study of the production process and raw materials central to this earliest known indigenous sub-Saharan African glass technology, through fieldwork at IleIfe, a visit to the Natural History Museum at Obafemi Awolowo University (to survey materials collected from the site decades ago) and laboratory analysis in collaboration with the A. G. Leventis Chair in Archaeological Science at The Cyprus Institute. The research revolutionises our understanding of the technological skills of the Yoruba in Southwest Nigeria and is being published in high-impact international journals.
Grant given:
2018
