Post-Medieval glass workshop from the excavation in the Kazan Kremlin

Rezida Khramchenkova¹, Airat Sitdikov², Alexei Kaisin

¹Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Science, Russia

² Kazan Federal University, Russia

³ Vyatka State University of Humanities, Russia

Abstract: This paper describes the investigation of chemical composition of the glassware, which during the excavations in the Kazan Kremlin in the 2000 year were found. From the chemical analysis of beads structure it was established that most of them had been made of glass which is identical to the bottle glass from this building. Analysis of trace components composition revealed that master blended glass which varied in color and composition, and also added ashes of animal bones to obtain different colors of his new beads.

Key words: archeology glass XVIII cc., Kazan Kremlin, spectral analyses, chemical composition, microelements.

Introdaction

Constant growth of built-up areas in cities with ancient history leads to the expansion of area of archaeological excavations. This in turn gives to researchers a lot of new material, and besides well-known antiquities, it contains items from XVII–XIX cc. For a long time they were considered uninformative and not of great value. However, such findings can sometimes lead to information that cannot be gained from other sources. All of this can be applied to glassware.

Glassware of later time did not capture the attention of archaeologists up to the moment, so publications on this theme are few. The popular object of study of foreign authors is an evolution of glass production from the antiquity to the modern era [1]. The article of A.M. Shovloplyas about glass findings in Kiev [2](Shovkoplyas A.M., 1974) stands out among the not numerous literature of the last century, which was written about later glass. The monograph of Stanislav Ciepiela is dedicated to glassware from upper horizons of Warsaw cultural layer of XVIII c. (Ciepiela S., 1977). Several works of Russian authors are devoted to museum collections, such as collection of State Museum of Ceramics and "Kuskovo Manor" or collection of State Historical Museum (Dolgikh E.V., 1985; Asharina N.A., 1978). Lately the expansion of preservation works in Russian cities leads to appearance of articles about material urban culture of the Modern history. In particular, Y.A. Likhter with co-authors dedicated several works to the later glass of Moscow and Smolensk (Veksler А.G., Likhter Y.A., 1997. p. 46-58; Veksler А.G., Likhter Y.A., 2008. p. 62-68; Likhter Y.A., Sergina Т.V., 2008.p. 69-92).

Beads are the least studied object of glassware of the Modern Era. That is why each new research in this area arouses special interest. There are many studies of the early Middle age and the Middle age beads (Goldina E.V., 2010; Stolyarova E.K., 2009; Mastykova A.V., 2005; Kuzina I.N. 2007). Beads of XVII – XVIII cc. are also interesting and their study can provide information about urban mode life, in addition to information from written and archaeological sources.

Y.A. Likhter is practically a single Russian researcher in this field. She provides data about glass and beads of XVIII c. from the excavations of Lipetsk and Moscow in several publications (Likhter Y.A., Sergina T.V. 2008; Veksler A.G., Likhter Y.A., 2008; Likhter Y.A., 2010; Likhter Y.A., 2011). Beads from small handicraft workshop were found during excavations in Zamoskvorechye District of Moscow. Likhter Y.A. writes - "unlike beads of XVII c., beads of XVIII c. show large variety of forms, technique of production and glass composition" (Likhter Y.A., 2011, p. 41). Then researcher indicates that beads in the workshop were made from half-stuff by the winding method. One more information source will possibly afford to trace some regularity in beads production in small handicraft workshops. One of such workshops was found in XXXIV excavation of the Kazan Kremlin.

Stratigraphy and dating

Excavations in the Kazan Kremlin previously had inconstant and episodic character (little preservation works were performed in 1920-1950 by I.N. Borodin and H.F. Kalinin, in 1970th - A.K.Khalikov, L.S. Shavokhin, A.G. Mukhamadiev). In the period of 1994-2005 on the territory of the Kremlin and historical part of the city, about 60 excavations with total square of 20 thousands sq. m. were laid (Sitdikov А.G., Khuzin F.S. 2009. p. 99).

In 2000 year on the territory of the Presidential Palace along south fence excavation XXXIV with square of 524 m2 was laid. From this area history of millenarian city of Kazan starts. In XIII – XIV cc. the palace of Kazan khans was situated here. In the beginning of XVIII c. during the reign of Peter Ist in the north area of the Kremlin hill new Chief Governor apartments were built. Exit to the yard leaded through a gate beneath Suyumbike watchtower, which survived to our times. To the north from the tower stone Vedenskaya church was situated. Two-storied Chief Governor’s apartments adjoined the south wall. Traces of foundation of the building were found in the excavation of 1976 year as recesses from decayed wooden piles, which were used for soil compression. Similar structural elements were discovered in 2000 year. In the excavation XXXIV in the western part of the excavation in sectors 1 and 2 four recesses for piles were found.

Log basement of a large building (750×1360 сm) adjoined the eastern side of the basement of the Chief Governor's house. This building consisted of two blockhouses (640×650 сm, 580×600 сm) which were lowered in a pit with depth of 125 cm. Logs of blockhouses had the diameter of 30 cm. Lag centered about the building were discovered beneath the remains of a boardwalk floor. An oven (200×200 сm) was situated in the southwest corner of the western blockhouse. Brick floor was made from the hearthside of the oven (pic.1).

Pic. 1. Excavation XXXIV. View of the oven from the northeast.

The blockhouse was filled with carbonaceous soil with includes of melted bricks and large limestone pieces. Foundation coin (a silver rouble from 1713) was found in the northwest corner during the dismantling of the construction. Numismatic material of the building contains coins from the first half of XVIII c. (Sitdikov A.G., 2001, p. 21-22).

Numerous debris of bottle glass was found in the western blockhouse. Fragments of bottle glass, unbroken and damaged beads were discovered in the eastern blockhouse between accumulations of bricks, glass slag and limestone pieces. The total amount of archaeological findings of broken and undamaged glass forms is 383 (table 1).

Eighty-one items are destroyed fragments with unidentified sizes and forms. There are 219 whole items, which are beads of round shape. It is known that beads are not typical for urban layers they are more characteristic for rural material culture. However, the category that is represented by this amount of findings deserves special contemplation.

Table 1. Categories of glassware from the XXXIV excavation of the Kazan Kremlin

№		Amount	%
1	“Round” seals made of glass	22	5,75
2	Fragments of window glass	72	18,84
3	Melted glass	13	3,4
4	Fragments of bottle glass	52	13,61
5	Beads	224	58,37
Total:		383	100

Morphology and technology of bead’s production

Globular and twice-truncated beads are the majority, twice-truncated ellipsoidal beads are presented in lesser amount. One annular bead was discovered. Pic. 2 demonstrates samples of Kremlin beads.

The scale proposed by J. Callmer (Callmer J. 1977. P. 35) was used to study the dimensional characteristics of beads. The scale is based on the division of beads into groups depending on diameter/width of a shaped body. According to this parameter, Callmer divides jewelry into micro beads (less than 9 mm in diameter), middle beads (from 9 to 17 mm), macro (from 18 to 30 mm) and giants (over 30 mm). Each of these groups is divided into small, middle and large subgroups. Diameters are divided into groups with a step of 2 mm. Results of the research are represented in table 3.

Table 3. Dimensional characteristics of glass beads from the XXXIV excavation of the Kazan Kremlin

Classification according to the diameter of a shaped body		Amount	%
Micro beads (less than 9 mm)	small (less than 3 mm)	1	0,45
	medium (from 3 to 5 mm)	-	-
	large (from 6 to 8 mm)	138	61,88
Medium beads (from 9 to 17 mm)	small (from 9 to 11 mm)	72	32,29
	medium (from 12 to 14 mm)	7	3,14
	large (from 15 to 17 mm)	-	-
Macro beads (from 18 to 30 mm)		1	0,45
Giants (over 30 mm)		-	-
Impossible to ascertain		4	1,79
Total		223	100