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Abstract

Numerous glass-production remains were uncovered at Yavne, in all excavated areas (A, B, C, G, L, K, M); however, only in Area L were glass furnaces found in situ, within a built complex termed the “House of Glass”. The importance of this discovery lies in two large rectangular furnaces for the production of raw glass (i.e., primary production) and several small circular furnaces for manufacturing glass vessels and artifacts (i.e., secondary production), which were found in an adjacent room. A large amount of production remains, originating from the walls of the large glass furnaces, was found incorporated in secondary use in later walls of the building. Also, many glassblowing remains were found, some scattered throughout the area and some concentrated next to the small furnaces, hinting at the places where the artisans had worked. These installations date to the fourth–early fifth centuries CE. The types of glass vessels uncovered in the debris are well-known from other assemblages in the region, where the remains of a glass industry were found, such as Khirbat el-Ni‘ana, Khirbat el-Fatuna and Ḥorbat Harmas. It is noteworthy that Area L yielded almost no glassware typical of the Byzantine period. This complex of furnaces is unique, being the first site where both the primary and secondary production phases are located side by side in one building and in an exceptionally good state of preservation. Moreover, our knowledge concerning furnaces of the secondary production phase was heretofore rather limited, and no circular furnaces of the Late Roman period have been found before this discovery. Additionally, the corpus of glass-vessel production waste from the site is the largest and most diverse unearthed so far in Israel.

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