Qedem Reports 8
2005
This publication presents the Islamic glass vessels discovered in the excavations of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem expedition to Bet Shean. The vessels have generally been dated on the basis of the pottery, oil lamps and coins from the context in which they were found, and sometimes on analogy with well-dated finds from other sites. Most of the vessel types discovered at Bet Shean are known from other sites, though a few, such as the Umayyad mosaic glass bowl, vessels with inscribed and plain stamps, and two-part vessels, are very rare or totally unknown elsewhere. Almost all of the known decorative styles of the Umayyad and Abbasid–Fatimid periods appear at Bet Shean, making it likely that the city had connections with the main centers of glass manufacture in these periods. The glass vessels of the Ayyubid–Mamluk periods, though they reveal a sharp decline in comparison to the finds from the previous periods, include some rare vessels.