Manufacturing vitreous colors: Frit, faience and glass production in the second millennium BC Tell Atchana, Alalakh (Turkey)

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to understand the perception of colour of glass in the second mil- lennium BC by providing specific examples from the capital of Hittites, Boğazköy/Hattuˇsa (Çorum, Turkey) in Central Anatolia, and from the North Syrian Tell Atchana/Alalakh (Hatay, Turkey), which served as a vassal to the Hittites in the Late Bronze Age. By discussing both archaeological and linguistic evidence from these two case sites, the perception of col- our in glass and value of certain types of colours at the center and periphery of the Hittite Empire are discussed.

Keywords: colour; glass; second millennium BC; Anatolia; Boğazköy/Hattuˇsa; Tell Atchana/Alalakh