Islamic plant-ash glass was extensively traded along the Silk Roads, offering insights into cross-cultural connectivity and local material culture development in medieval Eurasia. Research on plant-ash glass has largely focused on evidence from the Eastern Mediterranean, while the role of plant-ash glasses in the eastern continental Silk Road societies, including Iran, Central Asia, and western China, is not well understood.

 

In this seminar, the scientific analysis framework for studying plant-ash glass provenance and technology, including trace element analysis and strontium and neodymium isotopic analyses, will be introduced. Preliminary results confirm the diverse raw ingredients for glassmaking and decentralized production in these regions as well as the frequent occurrence of inter-regional and intra-regional trade.

 

Dr Qin-Qin Lü is a Research Fellow at McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, specialising in the scientific analysis of ancient glass with a broad geographical focus on the Silk Roads regions. He completed B.Sc. at University of Science and Technology of China, and obtained Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, both in physics. He is currently on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Fellowship (funded by UKRI) for the project SILKGLASS – Production and Dispersion of Silk Road Glass in Central Asia.

A major goal of this project is to analyse the chemical and isotopic composition of Islamic glass from Central Asia to understand the evolution, transmission and regional adaptation of glass technology. In his spare time, he enjoys taking hikes in nature.