About 2000 years ago, a group of Phoenician merchants, while camping on the beach, used blocks of "natron"* (an Alkali, or natural soda) to support their pots over the cooking fire while preparing dinner. The natron became heated from the fire and mixed with the sand. When the fire finally burned down the merchants discovered a clear residue; this discovery has been credited with being the first human-made glass.

Although the story has a nice imaginative appeal, it would not have been possible for the heat from the bonfire to fuse natron and sand into a glasslike substance; it would have required a temperature in excess of 1100°C. What might have happened is that the sand in this region was, in fact, powdered obsidian (natural glass). It would then have been possible for the heat from the fire, assisted by the fluxing action of the natron on the sandy particles, to have produced a glass residue.

Glass containers for food, beverages, cosmetics and medicines have been with us a long time. Human-made glass is thought to be the oldest manufactured substance in the world. Archaeologists have found glass bottles and pots dating back to 1500 B.C. The blowpipe, the hollow rod used in glass blowing, was developed in the Lebanon area and dates back to around 100 BC.