Intact Roman Glass Bowl Uncovered in the Netherlands

NIJMEGEN, THE NETHERLANDS—Hyperallergic reports that an intact blue glass bowl, with a trim rim and a vertical stripe pattern with ridges on the outside, has been unearthed at a construction site in the east-central Netherlands, near the Waal River and the German border. The bowl is estimated to date to about 2,000 years ago, when there was a Roman military camp surrounded by civilian settlements in the region. The bowl may have been imported from Cologne or Xanten, according to archaeologist Pepjin van de Geer, or it may have traveled to the site from as far away as Italy. “Such dishes were made by allowing molten glass to cool and harden over a mold,” van de Geer explained. “The stripe pattern was drawn in when the glass mixture was still liquid. Metal oxide causes a blue color.” Tombs, jewelry, and additional pieces of dishware have also been recovered at the site, he added. For more on the Roman presence in what is now the Netherlands, go to "Caesar's Diplomatic Breakdown."