Prof Ian Freestone - Cardiff University Archaeology

Research

General areas of interest

The technology and production of glass, ceramics and metals in the pre-industrial world
The structure and microscopy of early materials
The application of elemental and isotopic analysis to the origins of artefacts
The corrosion and deterioration of glass and ceramics

Specific research programmes

Corrosion, composition and origins of medieval stained glass
To begin in October 2007, this project, a collaborative investigation with the Department of the History of Art at the University of York, will be funded by the Leverhulme Trust through a research grant of £130,806. It will focus on the glass of the Great East Window, York Minster, which is currently undergoing conservation by York Glaziers Trust.

The Great East Window of York Minster, copyright Dean and Chapter of York Minster
Glass After Rome
This project began some years ago when I was a member of staff at the British Museum, and was initially funded by the Renaissance Trust. It addressed the origins of glass used in Europe following the departure of Rome, until the end of the first millennium AD. It has involved collaborations with many archaeologists and scientists. It has evolved into an investigation of the glass of the Greco-Roman natron tradition, using trace element and isotopic techniques. It has included the first systematic study of glass from Levantine primary glassmaking furnaces and the demonstration that raw glass from this region was widely traded across the ancient and early medieval worlds. Download a pdf publication from this project (287k).

The glass slab at Beth Shearim, Israel. Located in a cave in the necropolis at Beth Shearim and apparently fired in situ, the slab weighs approximately 8 tonnes and measures 3.40 x1.95 x 0.45 meters. We have suggested a date of 9th century AD on compositional grounds. Glass was made on a massive scale in the southeastern Mediterranean, broken up into lumps and transported around the known world.

Production of Seljuk glazed tile from Kubad Abad
New ceramic technologies were introduced in the early Islamic Near East. The innovations included the production of glazes made opaque by the addition of tin ("tin glaze") and a body based on crushed quartz with small additions of clay and glass ("stonepaste" or "fritware"). The elaborately decorated pottery made possible by these developments is highly valued today and may be seen in museums around the world.

In addition to pottery, glazed tiles were produced in large numbers and used to decorate the walls of major buildings. The organisation of tile production is little understood, however, and this collaborative project with Prof. Dr Zehra Yegingil, of Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey, funded by grants from the Royal Society, TUBITAK and Cukurova University, aims to shed light on the commissioning, production and procurement of tiles for a major Palace.

Detailed analysis of the technologies and elemental compositions of tiles from Kubad Abad indicates that tiles with different decorative motifs were made to different recipes and using different raw materials and techniques. Remarkably, this appears to be giving us insight into individual commissions for specific areas of the Palace. Furthermore we are able to demonstrate that Seljuq craftsmen from the region had their own approach to stonepaste manufacture, which appears to differ from other regions of the Islamic world. From a methodological viewpoint, this project has demonstrated that, in contrast to previous assumptions, the chemistry of stonepaste ceramic bodies can be highly informative about the organisation of production.

Excavations at Kubad Abad

Tiles from Kubad Abad

Eighteenth century ceramic and porcelain production in Britain
The eighteenth century saw major developments in the ceramic industries of Europe, as the craft potteries of the seventeenth century were supplanted by factories organized on industrial lines, such as those of Staffordshire, England and Doccia in Italy. Accompanying and often preceding these changes in scale and organization was an astonishing proliferation of ceramic bodies and glazes, as potters experimented with a wide range of raw materials to produce wares with desirable properties. One of the initial spurs to this development was the desire to emulate Far Eastern porcelain, a white translucent ceramic produced using kaolinitic clays. My research into these ceramics is pursued as time and resources allow. Recent work includes the investigation of the crucible technology of John Dwight of Fulham, who made a white porcelain-type ceramic in the late seventeenth century. This particular study was carried out in collaboration with Dr Lara Maritan of Padova University, thanks to a fellowship awarded to her by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, which allowed her to come and work in Cardiff.

Figure in Coade Stone, an architectural ceramic made in the late eighteenth century in Lambeth, London, at the factory of Mrs Eleanor Coade. This is part of the pediment of the Pelican Insurance Building, and may now be seen in the Museum of London. Long considered a "secret", SEM analysis revealed the recipe of Coade Stone to include ball clay, crushed stoneware grog, sand and crushed bottle glass.

Prehistoric ceramics from India
A collaborative project with Dr K Krishnan of the University of Baroda, investigating the techniques used to decorate ceramics in early India. Currently we are seeking funding to continue this work.

Sherds of reserved slip ware, a high quality ceramic of the Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 2200 BCE).

Scanning electron photomicrograph of a cross-section of Reserved Slip Ware, showing the two layers of vitrified slip which produce the unusual surface decoration.

Post-graduate Research Students

Enquiries about postgraduate research are welcomed.

Current research students supervised by me are:

Mary Davis - Technology at the transition: processes of continuity and change examined through the composition of Late Iron Age metal and enamelled work, BC 100 - 100 AD.

Frances Liardet - Craft practice as a determinant in technological change: the emergence and development of the glass blowing tradition between the mid-1st century BCE and the mid-1st century CE.

Pangiota Manti - Archaeometric investigations of Greek copper alloy helmets: conservation, technology, provenance and related corrosion studies (second supervisor).

Also I am Associate Supervisor for Wendy Reade of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Sydney, Australia, who is investigating the origins of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Near Eastern glasses.