Dutch Archaeologists Discover Pristine 2,000 Year Old Roman Blue Glass Bowl

If you're anything like me glass objects don't tend to last very long but this beautiful Roman blue glass bowl has survived about 2,000 years with barely a nick , granted it's spent most of its life buried in the ground but even so it's in incredible condition considering it was discovered at a dig in the Dutch city of Nijmegen.

Nijmegen is among the oldest cities in the Netherlands, according to the local Radboud University. (It may even be the oldest, though several cities claim that distinction.) Ancient Romans first established a military camp near the location of present-day Nijmegen in the first century C.E., around the time of the glass bowl’s creation. The settlement expanded and became the first Roman city in the present-day Netherlands, a designation that gave town residents Roman citizenship, per ARTNews.

Archaeologists suggest that the blue glass bowl might have been made by Roman artisans or carried by traders, given Nijmegen’s unique status as a hub of ancient Roman activity. Van de Greer tells de Gelderlander that the bowl may have been created in glass workshops in Germany or Italy, making it a valuable commodity for trade.
www.smithsonianmag.com...

Stunning.

a reply to: gortex

I WANT IT!

Along with an ancient Roman Generals armor!

a reply to: gortex

That is pretty nice. The flutes on the side appear to be an applique'.
I can't help but wonder what it is worth... priceless, I guess.
Incredible that it survived.

a reply to: KKLOCO

I WANT IT!

That was my first thought.

a reply to: gortex

Wow especially with the condition it's in, looks perfect for making a nice jelly actually and now I am hungry.

Humour aside I wonder if this has those nano particles in it like the famous glass cup, either way amazing that it has lasted so long in such great condition.

I suspect things like this were perhaps once more common but people tend to use what they find and likely they ended up being used, that said I wonder if anyone has a glass bowl or pot from there family line and does not even know how old it really is.

It really is a beautiful colour of blue and if it had not been found were and when it was you could mistake that for a modern piece of glassware.

a reply to: LABTECH767

It really is a beautiful colour of blue and if it had not been found were and when it was you could mistake that for a modern piece of glassware.

That's what struck me , the depth of the colour , if I saw it in an antiques shop I'd assume it was from the 60's or 70's ... and yeah perfect for jelly.

Cool find(s)!
Every now & then the soil gives up a nice ancient surprise.
The Romans left behind more than just artifacts in that region, it seems that many of the people living in and around the province of Limburg cary roman genes. Many people who’s families lived in that region for many generations, tend to have black hair, while the rest of the Netherlands have normal dark blonde hair. The romans only conquered and settled the southern part of the Netherlands.Towards the end of their “occupation” we seemed to have good relations and trade with them, aside from interrelationships.

When evaluating stuff from digs, it is hard to date some things. Someone could have stole some stuff from a fancy home a thousand years ago and buried that bowl there so they would not get caught, an antique bowl like that would be hard to sell if the people they stole it from were well known. It was common to bury valuable stuff you had years ago, many people buried valuable stuff in apple orchards or near their foundation or under the floor of their dug out half buried homes. Lots of living places five hundred to a thousand years ago were like basements with sand floors with a roof on top on a hillside or slope. Sort of like a walk out basement on a house. All cultures seemed to do that, even some native Americans. It also could have been left in a root cellar that was dug to that point then later filled in.

It is just some information of how contamination can occur. This also is the reason they have not allowed some more modern tools to be called old, the people two thousand to three thousand years ago did have some nice stuff, but when digging up a site, archeologists considered these artifacts newer buried artifacts because they seemed newer than the site...so they discounted them as being contamination from a later age. So it works both ways, sometimes artifacts are discounted, sometimes they are just something someone buried later on. We buried things in our dump so animals or kids would not get hurt on them on the farm. That ended in the sixties, things were becoming things that should not be buried then, so there were cans and paper stuff in our regular farm dump, bottles included, but we hauled all plastic crap to the city dump and got rid of them or put them in the trashcans at our house in town. My parents were more worried about deer and other wild animals getting poisoned by unnatural stuff, or even the cows when we had them. Lots of people did toss everything in their farm dumps though, and back then dumping the cars drain oil somewhere was considered ok too, but Oil didn't have much additives back then like it does now, oil definitely needs to be brought to the hazardous waste sites now.

a reply to: gortex

Beautiful.
A remarkable find if it is indeed authentic. Anything buried that is glass is usually found in pieces. What a rarity.

a reply to: rickymouse

If the bowl had been buried later the archaeologists would have noticed differences in the soil , the cut that had been made to deposit the bowl would show different colouration to the original soil , it's called stratification , that's how they find wooden post holes from Iron Age round houses.

I'm sure the bowl is of the period the archaeologists say it is and contemporary to the other finds discovered.

a reply to: rickymouse

You know the Romans were brilliant glass blowers, we used the same technology right into the twentieth century until Pilkington invented float glass and in fact Glass Windows were even used in ancient Rome with the great bath's having TRIPLE GLAZED Windows (they made them the same way we did until that float glass was invented - molten glass on liquid tin - by blowing the class into long tubes then cutting it and rolling it flat while it was still hot, that is why old windows were often rippled a bit and of uneven thickness as you see in Harry Potter reminiscent streets and old buildings even today though such plate glass is rare these days and has not been used since old Pilkington invented his technique).

What is amazing is the quality and beauty they were able to create that was often unrivalled even by the modern world and certainly not equalled until perhaps the late 18th century by more modern artisans.

Imagine if Rome had the industrial revolution, it did not because of it's entrenched slave and cast system that ham strung it from such innovation and advancement but it came close with every element of the steam engine having been invented by about 200AD, have a look at Heron/Hero of Alexandria for example a Greek Egyptian whom lived under the Roman Empire in the city of Alexandria.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: rickymouse

If the bowl had been buried latter the archaeologists would have noticed differences in the soil , the cut that had been made to deposit the bowl would show different colouration to the original soil , it's called stratification , that's how they find wooden post holes from Iron Age round houses.

I'm sure the bowl is of the period the archaeologists say it is and contemporary to the other finds discovered.

When I bury something, I tend to put the layers back in as I got them, the topsoil is taken off first and put back last. I also tend to put the sand in first and then put the clay so that the claylayer protects the water from going down and disappearing, otherwise you get a brown spot there during times when there is hardly any rain. I was taught that way, I knew landscapers and farmers. But you can use that opposite too to dry up wetspots in fields. Grew up on a farm and picked up lots of stuff like that.

Some of the archeologists would purposely try to hide contamination on a find like this, it makes them look better...yet it also attracts skeptics in the ranks of archeologists too. It could be real or it could have been buried there long ago and someone burying something valuable would not want anyone to find it, so they would make it look as natural as they could.

It is possible that this is real, after all there were extensive trade routes back thousands of years ago all over the place. Finding old stone artifacts from all over the world in America is not unexpected, they had trade here long time around two thousand years ago. And trading worthless carved stone artifacts found in the ground of Italy done by wanabe young artists for practice wound up in America. The Indians probably traded gold, copper, and pelts for those stone practice statues. stone Tablets with etchings on them were traded back five hundred years ago too. What good were coins to the Indians, they had no use for them. Copper from the copper country is found in stuff found around southern Europe that is fifteen hundred to two thousand years old. They can track the exact chemistry of metals to determine that...what did they trade to get the copper?

originally posted by: KKLOCO
a reply to: gortex

I WANT IT!

Along with an ancient Roman Generals armor!

Pay with Paypal so you are prtotected.

Those Chinese have got real good at counterfitting stuff.

And what size are you for the armor I will dig up next week?

a reply to: gortex

Wow ... beautiful cobalt blue! *whistle*

I am a bottle digger and collector in the US, and I become completely excited just to find something cobalt blue with incomplete mold marks from the 1800's, and even like the fully modern molded cobalt blue bottles from the 1900's ... but wow. If I found a bowl like that in a dig, I would covet it of course, but I would not have been able to tell how old it was. I am amazed they could work glass like that 2000 years ago. To the Romans ... 'job well done!'.

I wonder if they can use cobalt isotope studies to determine where the cobalt oxide came from to mix with the original clear glass to imbue that nice beautiful blue hue to the bowl? Was it made locally, or closer to Rome?

a reply to: rickymouse

It doesn't matter how careful you are about replacing the soil the cut you make will still show as different to the natural stratigraphy , here's a short explanation.

originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: rickymouse

You know the Romans were brilliant glass blowers, we used the same technology right into the twentieth century until Pilkington invented float glass and in fact Glass Windows were even used in ancient Rome with the great bath's having TRIPLE GLAZED Windows (they made them the same way we did until that float glass was invented - molten glass on liquid tin - by blowing the class into long tubes then cutting it and rolling it flat while it was still hot, that is why old windows were often rippled a bit and of uneven thickness as you see in Harry Potter reminiscent streets and old buildings even today though such plate glass is rare these days and has not been used since old Pilkington invented his technique).

What is amazing is the quality and beauty they were able to create that was often unrivalled even by the modern world and certainly not equalled until perhaps the late 18th century by more modern artisans.

Imagine if Rome had the industrial revolution, it did not because of it's entrenched slave and cast system that ham strung it from such innovation and advancement but it came close with every element of the steam engine having been invented by about 200AD, have a look at Heron/Hero of Alexandria for example a Greek Egyptian whom lived under the Roman Empire in the city of Alexandria.

a reply to: rickymouse

Sounds pretty spectacular, keep an eye out for Obsidian it was probably traded all the way from south America to where you are and beyond and was prized, still used in heart surgery that natural black glass is sharper than steel.

a reply to: gortex

Wow just impressive that lasted intact for 2000 years, I mean it looks like you just got it from the store.

a reply to: gortex

I know about that stuff, also about how many archeologists have deceived people through the years to show progress. I am a member of an archeology group and we have people from all over come and explain things, including some people who actually validate evidence through special testing procedures and onsite inspections.

An artifact that is dug up goes through scrutiny and there are some pretty desperate archeologists out there that are experts at deception.

By the way, I dug up a lot of artifacts here myself, I did not use any of that stuff, I am not interested in doing an official dig or making money selling anything I find, It is interesting enough just being able to dig things up. I was warned not to start getting archeologists to come here because I would not be able to join the digging and they usually take everything. Also I would not be allowed to dig anywhere on my own property till they knock all the trees down and do their research.

I learned that from someone who made that mistake personally, he was sick of the people digging everything up and they did not even show him most of the stuff they found, they just carted it off...he got nothing at all for anything but a torn up yard. I like to learn from others mistakes

a reply to: gortex

Magnifique!

The Romans had craftsmen and artisans from all over the known world at the time.

Their concrete is unmatched to this day.