Glasses & diamond: issues related to the archaeometric investigation of an archaeological bead

A glassy bead found during the archaeological excavation of the Palaeolithic rockshelter of Riparo Dalmeri has triggered the development of a broader research in the field of ancient glasses. The determination of the composition of the bead in a fully non-invasive way suggested an artificial origin of the glass. However, from the results of Raman spectroscopy a natural origin of the glass cannot be ruled out, as nanodiamonds were detected in the bead. A replica experiment was designed to shed light of this issue and provided new information on the material constituting the bead not measurable in a non-destructive way.