Bracelets, which have an important place among ornaments or jewelry used since the Neolithic period, provide important information about the social, economic, artistic and cultural ties of the societies in the geography where they are found. Glass bracelets, which emerged approximately a thousand years after the discovery of glass in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC, can vary in design and color in many regions in different periods. During excavations in Anatolia, many glass bracelets from the Roman and Byzantine periods were found. Data from the Islamic period -especially from the Middle Ages- have only recently begun to be shared. Archeological excavations in Anatolia have always yielded various fragments showing the use of qualities of glass. When the glass products unearthed in the excavations are evaluated from past to present, they reveal the development of glass production techniques. Thanks to the excavations carried out in Harran, a critical settlement center in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, rich finds from the Islamic period are being unearthed every day. Harran has been home to many civilizations with a history dating back to 6000 BC and experienced its most powerful period in terms of religion, trade, culture, art and science during the Seljuk-Ayyubid period in the Middle Ages. In addition to the impressive architectural structures and numerous ceramic artifacts unearthed during excavations in the city, glass bracelets were recovered. Although there are several studies on architectural artifacts and ceramics, no study has yet been conducted on glass artifacts and glass bracelets. For this reason, a preliminary evaluation of the glass bracelets recovered between 2013 and 2023 belonging to the Harran Excavations conducted under the direction of Prof. Dr. Mehmet Önal was made in this study. These artifacts, which will be introduced to the scientific world for the first time by us and will contribute to the research on Seljuk-Ayyubid period glass art, are examined according to their production technique, color, size and ornamentation. By making comparisons with the glass bracelets found in the excavations of the Middle Ages, the period and its place in the period were tried to be determined, thus a new study that will help to understand Harran in particular or the cultures with which it interacted has emerged. 

Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Assyrian, Hurri, Mitanni, Hittite, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Median, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbasid, Hamdanid, Fatimid, Numeyrid, Seljuk, Zengid, Crusaders and Ayyubids lived in and around Harran. Harran experienced its heyday during the Zengid and Ayyubid periods, was abandoned after the Mongol invasions between 1260 and 1272, came under the rule of the Mamluks in the first half of the 14th century and joined the Ottoman Empire in 1516.

Harran remained under the rule of the Seljuks for about 40 years. In 1081, Sharaf al-Dawla Muslim bin Quraysh, an ally of the Seljuks, captured Harran and appointed Yahya bin al-Shatir as its governor. The city changed hands frequently in the hands of the Seljuks from 1086 until the Seljuk Sultan Mahmud appointed Imad al-Din Zengi as atabek of Mosul, Harran and Aleppo. 

Harran excavations yielded rich finds from various periods, especially from the Middle Ages. Among these finds, glass artifacts have a very important place. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Önal, the Head of the Archaeology Department at Harran University and the Director of the Harran Excavations, led the 2013-2023 Harran excavations, which were funded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, and the Turkish Historical Society. During these years, excavations were carried out in the bazaar area to the east of the Great Mosque of Harran and in the Inner Castle of Harran. The bracelets analyzed were recovered from these two different excavation sites. No study has yet been conducted on the glass artifacts found in Harran. In this unique study, glass bracelets, the most qualified group of glass artifacts found in Harran, were examined. Information on the use of glass bracelets was obtained, the forms and decorations of the bracelets were classified, they were identified according to their colors and decorations, and they were dated according to the layers in which they were found and similar examples.

The glass bracelets found at Harran were produced in both attached and unattached techniques. Although the bracelets found during the excavations at Harran 2013-2023 were generally found as broken pieces, they present different typologies. They are divided into different sub-groups according to their cross-sectional and ornamental features. The examples are mostly circular, rectangular, triangular, and square. While the forms of the bracelets were created, their ornamentation was also completed.

The sections are mostly circular, square, triangular, and rectangular, shaped according to the construction technique. While these forms were being created, some examples were decorated at the same time. Bracelets with circular cross-sections appear as twisted bracelets with frequent or infrequent twisting, spiral thread wrapping, and plain undecorated bracelets. Most of the bracelets with square cross-sections are decorated with drops or dots in the appliqué technique. Triangular and rectangular bracelets have colored ornaments in the etching technique.

The glass bracelets found in the Harran excavations were evaluated in different sub-groups in terms of their ornamental features as normal spiral-wrapped or twisted bracelets, spiral and parallel thread-wrapped bracelets, bracelets decorated with appliqué technique and bracelets with incised technique. The colors used in the spiral twisted bracelets are opaque black, shades of blue and green, and fuchsia. In spiral thread-wrapped bracelets, red, yellow, and blue colors predominate among the thread colors used on black. The bracelets in the feed and applique techniques are quite colorful. In the appliqué bracelets, appliqués surround the bracelets at certain intervals in the form of tiny drops. In some examples, the drops are the same color as the bracelet itself, while in others they are in a different shade. The most striking example is a bracelet with an evil eye bead decoration. On the bracelet, which is designed in yellow and red colors, tiny blue droplets are placed inside the white drops to give the appearance of an evil eye bead. Bracelets with blue drops on black, red drops on green and yellow drops on blue were also found. The colors of red, yellow, black, green, green and brown were predominantly used on the bracelets in the feeding technique. Among the colors used on the glass bracelets, i.e., the colors fed, yellow is dominant. The applied motifs generally consist of horizontal, diagonal stripes or irregular linear and point decorations.

The spiral twisted bracelets in Harran are similar to the monochrome twisted bracelets in Amorium, Demre St. Nicholas, Mersin Yumuktepe Mound, Kuşadası Kadıkalesi samples, Beyşehir Kubad-Abad Palace samples, Samsat, Ani, Gevale Castle, Bergama, Kocaeli and Mardin Museums. Parallel fiber or thread-wrapped bracelets are in interaction with the examples from the Samsat and Ani excavations. Similar ones are located in Elazığ Museum. Examples of bracelets in which small glass bumps in the form of drops are applied to the surface in a single row are a bracelet in the Erzurum Museum and examples of El-Kadim, Tel Dan, El-Şir. These also interact with the Syrian and Egyptian examples. Similar bracelets in the impregnation technique can be found in Tel Dan, the Metropolitan Museum and the Erzurum Museum.

Strong signs of a temporary glass workshop were also encountered in Harran, which is one of the most important excavations of the Seljuk-Ayyubid Period archeology in Anatolia. Because of the examination and research on glass artifacts, bracelets thought to be manufacturing errors and glass slags found in Harran Inner Castle were found. These are important clues that glass production was made in Harran. Additionally, a large number of glass artifacts unearthed in a shop in the Eastern Bazaar of the Harran Ulu Mosque and a building space related to glass found in the Harran Mound indicate that glass production may have been possible in Harran. During the research conducted in Harran, some data about glass finds were first obtained in 2014 from the bazaar area to the east of the Harran Ulu Mosque. In this area, a space with a stone floor was unearthed in the trench designated as 7h\e2. A brick-paved platform with a height of 0.50 m above the ground was encountered in the west of the place, and glass goblet fragments were found extensively in this part. This place, located in the bazaar area, can be considered a shop where glass works are sold, considering its plan and function.

During the studies carried out in the Harran Höyük 8f-e5 East Trench in 2015, two cooking-related structures were unearthed. Among these buildings, the building called Cooking Area No. 2 is made of brick and has a barrel-vaulted upper cover and a triangular opening. It was observed that there was a channel at the front of the building. Assuming that the function of this channel is the area where the glass melting shovel is left to cool, this structure could be a glass furnace. Finally, during the Harran Inner Castle excavations carried out in 2023, glass bracelets and glass slags, which were understood to be production errors, were found in hall number 4 on the 2nd floor of the castle and in the vaulted room number 4. Additionally, many glass bracelet fragments were recovered from these areas.

Fifty percent of the glass bracelets from Harran were unearthed during the excavations at the Harran citadel-palace. Most of these are fragments of colored and decorated glass bracelets. In this context, especially elaborately designed bracelets appealed to a higher economic level of society. The bracelet fragments recovered from the Great Mosque of Harran are simpler. These are also indicative of the economy of the local population living outside the castle. The Harran glass bracelet finds can be dated to the 12th-13th century based on stratigraphic data and comparisons with similar examples. This conclusion can also be reached by dating the other artifacts found in the layers where the glass bracelets were found, namely terracotta artifacts, coins, metallic artifacts and inscriptions. Although it is not yet clear whether the use of glass bracelets continued in the city after the Seljuk rule of Harran in the 12th century, it is quite possible that glass bracelets were produced in Harran, the most important settlement of the plain, considering the production data. Nevertheless, further research based on chemical analysis should be conducted to determine the geographical distribution and dating of the glass bracelets. Thus, the glass bracelet recovered during the excavations can be analyzed in more detail.