KFU Archeologists Find Pseudo-Emerald Glass Remaining Unchanged in the Earth for Centuries

Specialists of Tatarstan's Nanotechnology Center identified the composition of ancient houseware and grave goods in proto-Hungarian burial grounds located in Tatarstan.

The glass discovered is very unique with its distinguishing emerald green color and resistance to thin nanotech carving.

After 10 centuries of storage the glass was not damaged. Moreover, there are no surface blisters and color saturation was preserved. The ability to carve such a glass used for rare and expensive goods depends on high concentration of lead compounds (>62%). In addition to the main piece of glass, an incrusted signet ring was discovered. Presumably, the goods were produced in the Middle East and travelled to proto-Hungarians as a trophy or was just simply traded.

Glass played a special part in technological discoveries of the Middle Ages. Today, in order to identify the manufacturing location, regions of raw materials are divided according to the composition of the glass. Henceforth it becomes possible to find whether inlays were created by local masters or imported.

Medieval crafts, especially advanced ones, were closely related to applied chemistry or alchemy. It is not by chance that Ramon Llull, one of the foremost figures in the history of alchemy, called the glass “the first product of chemical philosophy”.  An alchemical work room found in Bilyar (the earliest known in Europe), opens a wide range of opportunities to unveil the secrets of Bilyar alchemy and glass manufacturing, explained AP Svetlana Valiullina of the KFU Department of Archeology and Ethnology, Head of the 1989 Bilyar expedition.

Samples obtained in the expedition are thoroughly studied in Tatarstan's NanotechCenter. “We do it using X-ray fluorimetry, mass-spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasma and Auger spectrometry” clarified Director Technical of Tatarstan's Nanotech Center Igor Kossko.