First evidence of glass fabrication in sub-Saharan Africa was found

Researchers from Rice University, University of London and the Museum Museum found the first direct evidence that glass was produced in Sub-Saharan Africa before Europeans arrived, a finding that The researcher said it was a new turning point for the glass industry history.

Principal author Abidemi Babatunde Babalola recently graduated Rice along with a PhD in anthropology and an exchange graduate student at Harvard University found evidence of early glass fabrication in excavations. ancient in Igbo Olokun, located in the northern suburb of Ile-Ife in southwestern Nigeria.

He recovered more than 12,000 glass beads and a few kilograms of glass fragments.

"This area has been recognized as an ancient glass factory for more than a century , " Babalola said. "The glass containers and small glass beads discovered there are evidence that imported glass has been melted and recycled."

Analysis of 52 glass beads from excavations revealed no chemical composition in glass production areas known in the Old World, including Egypt, the Mediterranean East, the Middle East and Asia. Instead, these particles have a high lime content, high aluminum (HLHA), reflecting local geology and raw materials.

The excavation provides evidence that glass production at Igbo Olokun occurred from the 11th century to the 15th century BC when Europeans set foot along the West African coast.

Babalola said the presence of HLHA glass at the first important locations in West Africa showed that it was widely traded. He hopes the research will bring more innovations on glass innovation and development in sub-Saharan Africa.

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