Final Bronze Age glass in Northern Italy: Is Frattesina the only glass production centre?

Newly analysed FBA glass from the two Gazzo Veronese and Cava Girardi sites shows bulk composition comparable to the LMHK Frattesina glass. The FBA glass shows a remarkable heterogeneity and a large variation in texture and composition, broadly related to colour. The chemical, mineralogical and principal component analyses applied to all investigated samples do not provide conclusive evidence for single or multiple production centres. The PCA model built on the co-glass alone shows a puzzling relationship between bead typology and composition and, although the samples of each typology are scarce and more data are needed, this could be interpreted as the indication of typologically distinct productions in different sites. This is the first time that a comprehensive statistical analysis of FBA glass of different types, colours, and provenance is performed. The results should stimulate and direct future and more detailed investigation.