The glass workers of Roman London

Abstract

• Recycling may be a topical subject today, but it is an ancient practice. Glass was regularly recycled to make new vessels during the Roman period and important new evidence for glass working in London came from 35 Basinghall Street, with the discovery, in 2005, of over 70kg of broken glass and production waste, a valuable commodity which would normally have been remelted in a furnace and used to create new vessels. Study of this material, which may mark the demise of a glass workshop nearby, is giving us a fresh picture of the glass industry, its products and the techniques of its craftsmen, in 2nd-century AD London.