Doctoral defence: Monika Reppo "Glass and its makers in Estonia, c. 1550–1950: an archaeological study"

On 10 September at 16:00, Monika Reppo will defend her thesis "Glass and its makers in Estonia, c. 1550–1950: an archaeological study".

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Andres Tvauri, University of Tartu
Associate Professor Erki Russow, Tallinn University
Professor Georg Haggrén, University of Turku

Oponent: 
PhD Magdalena Bis, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)

Summary:
In the doctoral thesis ‘Glass and its makers in Estonia, c. 1550–1950: an archaeological study,’ an updated and corrected chronology of the post-medieval glass industry in Estonia was presented based on written data and archaeological finds. It was determined that 42 glassworks were established in Estonia between 1628–1940. A third of the owners were found to be related or connected through marriage. The glassworks were mapped – unfortunately, it transpired that only six historic sites are scheduled monuments. The development of the migrant-led industry, and the role and connections of the workers in the 17th–19th century were studied through life histories of migrant workers and their families, specifically the Wentzell, Hagen, and Runge families. It was discovered that workers stayed at a site for 1–3 years in the 17th–18th centuries but became more settled throughout the 19th century. Based on the study, godparenting and marriages were most important in maintaining the glassworking community.

The sharp increase in the number of glassworks in the mid-18th century was reflected by an increase in glass artefacts, which were studied to describe post-medieval glass consumption. Since the local industry was founded in Western Estonia, the focus was on glass from Haapsalu and Pärnu, which were compared with finds from Tallinn. Local glassworks mainly produced flat and vessel glass in green forest glass, and according to the study, they made up most of the finds. Bottles accounted for 50% of all finds for Haapsalu and 44% for Pärnu, but only 13% for Tallinn. The most important local and rarest imported glass and decoration techniques were described in the study. Most notably, it was discovered that in Estonia, grozing was gradually replaced by cutting during the 17th century. Work with the artefacts allowed creating some new words in Estonian in cooperation with the Institute of the Estonian Language – for example, vaaliklaas (linen smoother) and hallitoonitehnika (grisaille).

The doctoral thesis is based on three raw datasets compiled by the author on glassworks, workers and their families, and glass finds. The datasets are freely available via the DataDOI repository.