The history of glassmaking can be traced back to 3500 BC in Mesopotamia. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first true glass was made in coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt. The earliest known glass objects, of the mid second millennium BC, were beads, perhaps initially created as accidental by-products of metal-working (slags) or during the production of faience, a pre-glass vitreous material made by a process similar to glazing. Glass remained a luxury material, and the disasters that overtook late Bronze Age civilizations seem to have brought glass-making to a halt.