SILKGLASS is a Horizon Europe MSCA-PF fellowship funded by UKRI and hosted by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

Central Asia is traditionally seen as a passive Silk Roads throughway rather than an active and creative node. SILKGLASS seeks to investigate the spread and technological evolution of Islamic plant-ash glass material culture in Central Asia as part of broader cultural exchanges on the Silk Roads. It will employ technological, chemical and pioneering isotopic analyses of a diverse, representative selection of excavated artefacts, producing an integrative understanding of the production and dispersion of Islamic plant-ash glass in Central Asia. It will provide a multidisciplinary research framework and develop transferable protocols. It aims to bring new perspectives about interregional interactions, technological innovation and knowledge transmission on the Silk Roads.