Refuse from a First-Century Glass Factory

Glass molding and glass blowing existed side by side in a Jerusalem glass factory during the Herodian period. Here we see the refuse from this factory—evidence of an industry in transition. The Upper City excavations present archaeologists and ancient glass experts with a unique opportunity to study a pivotal phase in the history of glass manufacture.

Found among the refuse were broken bowls; chunks of unprocessed glass; a heap of stems and pipes; a striped blowing pipe and fragments of a flask blown from it (reassembled in an artist’s reconstruction); mouth and neck fragments of flasks; and pipes broken just as egg-shaped globs of glass were being blown.