NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the steering committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by the Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

Support for this study was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FC01-94EW54069. All opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Cover art: Glass making is one of the oldest technologies in the production of a material for human use. The object on the cover is a slide of a Roman glass bottle from the first to third centuries A.D. The bottle is from the National Collections, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Special thanks to Gus Van Beek, Near Eastern Archeologist.