Glass is a relatively common find on Iron Age sites, usually in the form of beads or bangles.
The first comprehensive study and classification of Iron Age glass beads (Guido 1978) has been recently re-examined to assess new material and to reconsider the findings in view of changing theoretical approaches (Foulds 2014, 2017). The corpus consists mainly of unstratified stray finds traditionally assigned a broad chronological range of 2nd century BC–2nd century AD. The distribution of glass beads and bangles suggests two traditions: in north-east Scotland and in southern Scotland/northern England (Hunter 2015c, 235–6). The current glass bangle typology remains Kilbride-Jones (1938).
As shown in other ScARF Research Frameworks evidence for glass production and its organisation remains unclear across much of Iron Age Britain (Foulds 2017, 17). Recent work at Culduthel, Inverness-shire, has produced the first secure evidence for glass working in Scotland (Hatherley and Murray 2021; HighARF Case Study Iron Age Craftworking at Culduthel). There is no evidence for primary glass manufacture in Scotland and scientific analysis of glass beads from the north-east has shown they were made from imported glass ingots from Mediterranean sources (Davis and Freestone 2021, 217; Bertini et al 2011).
Hunter (2009) shows that in East Lothian glass objects have been recovered from 9 sites: Archerfield (Cree 1909); Broxmouth (Bruhn 2013); Fisher’s Road East (Haselgrove & McCullagh 2000); Harperdean (DES 1995); Muirfield, Gullane (Younger 1936); Phantassie (LeLong & MacGregor 2007); St Germains (Alexander and Watkins 1998), Traprain Law (Jobey 1976) and Knowes (Haselgrove 2009).
Seven glass bangles were recovered from Broxmouth, the assemblage typical of what one would expect from an indigenous settlement in southern Scotland. The assemblage is dominated by Type 3 bangle fragments which are the most common type on indigenous sites in the region, with Traprain Law having the highest concentration (Bruhn 2013; Kilbride-Jones 1938; Stevenson 1956, 1974). Four Type 2 glass bangles were recovered from Knowes (Haselgrove 2009).