Manufacture of Ganch Products at the Glassmaking Workshop of Selitrennoe Settlement

The paper features the study materials of a glassmaking workshop at Selitrennoe settlement, obtained in the field season of 2024. The history of the study of the master glassblower’s estate is provided, three historical periods of the workshop and the types of production activities of the inhabitants of the estate are distinguished, and clothing material is characterized. The paper is primarily focused on an accumulation of carved and cast architectural decorations made of alabaster (ganch) found in room No. 3 of the estate, and a thermal engineering structure (drying cabinet), which was presumably used to dry these products, discovered for the first time at Selitrennoe settlement. An analysis of numismatic material relates the manufacture of ganch products to the second historical period, which occurred in the 1360s. The paper notes the insufficient knowledge of the manufacture and use of architectural decorations made of ganch on the Golden Horde Lower Volga monuments, which is due to the fragmentary nature of the finds and the absence of workshops for their manufacture. Taking into account regional climatic features, an explanation of the technological differences between the manufacture of ganch products of the Lower Volga and that of Central Asia is proposed

Clothing · Estate · Production (economics · Real estate · Settlement (finance · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Mineralogy and Gemology Studies · Vladimir Nabokov Literary Studies