The Invisible Economy - Part 3: The Secret Life of Shards: Tracing the Ubiquitous Circularity of Glass and Textiles
The Invisible Economy: How Ancient Societies Mastered Circularity 1 The Invisible Economy - Part 1: The Ragpicker's Dream: Unearthing the Invisible Agents of the Ancient Scrap Trade 2 The Invisible Economy - Part 2: Recycling at the Highest Levels: Elite Reuse in Imperial Roman and Abbasid Courts 3 The Invisible Economy - Part 3: The Secret Life of Shards: Tracing the Ubiquitous Circularity of Glass and Textiles 4 The Invisible Economy - Part 4: Beyond Utility: The Functional, Aesthetic, and Spiritual Dimensions of Reuse in Antiquity 5 The Invisible Economy - Part 5: Decoding the Data Gap: Unlocking Ancient Circularity through Archaeology and Archives ← Series Home In the study of past economies, attention often drifts toward grand monuments or precious metals, yet the materials most intimately tied to daily life—glass and textiles—reveal some of the most enduring and organized circular networks. These items, originally valued for their functional or aesthetic qualities, underwent cycles of reuse and recycling driven by persistent economic demand, technical feasibility, and inherent material value,. The multi-faceted lives of glass and textiles demonstrate how widespread organized material circularity was, establishing global supply chains long before the modern concept of recycling emerged,,. ...