The Dissemination of Islamic Glass Bangles across the Western Indian Ocean Trade Network (14th-18th Century): Origins, Society and Culture

This thesis examines Islamic glass bangles in the western Indian Ocean, focusing on the understudied Persian Gulf to explore how distribution, manufacture, and meaning intersect with broader Islamic cultural change. It combines archaeological, scientific, and ethnographic approaches to address neglected regions by establishing a typological and geochemical framework for provenancing. A universal typology classifies manufacturing and decorative techniques, cross-sections, colour, diameter, and context, paired with compositional analyses (SEM-EDX, LA-ICP-MS) to define regionally coherent 'production zones' and reconstruct dissemination patterns. The study applies established glass categories ('South Asian', 'Eastern Mediterranean', 'Mesopotamian'), refines others ('Anatolian', 'Western Khurasan', 'Eastern Khurasan', 'Persian Gulf'), and identifies new zones: 'Eastern Zagros' and 'South Arabian'. Chronological developments in bangle styles and production zones are documented with precision. Analysis of bangles from the c.14th-16th-century production site of Kawd am-Saila in Aden (Yemen) reveals a distinct v-Na-Al 'South Arabian' glass ('KAS') not previously recorded, also confirmed in a typologically aligned assemblage from Somaliland. The Persian Gulf collections show clear changes in design, colour, and composition between 14th-16thcentury assemblages from Siraf, Iran (derived from three Iranian production zones), and 16th-19th-century southern Gulf sites (al-Hasa, Qalʿat al-Bahrain, Julfar). However, despite diversification in styles and glass recipes, most continued to be produced in the main Iranian zones, demonstrating both continuity and innovation in Islamic glass bangle manufacture and exchange between the c.14th-18th centuries. Methodologically, this study shows that, if applied correctly, a multidisciplinary approach can map production and distribution even in the absence of workshop contexts. Integrating archaeological, scientific, and ethnographic data reveals that bangles were central to Islamic material culture, expressing female identity through marital status, ethnicity, and apotropaic symbolism conveyed by colour, design, pairing, and placement. The framework developed here provides a foundation for future research on both glass bangles and wider Islamic glass traditions.