It is indeed about putting knowledge together. We all have pieces of the puzzle, and only whenever we put another piece together, we start getting the whole picture. I know very little about how glass degrades, but I have seen quite a few fakes.

About faking the 'dug up look': At the same markets, They also used a very simple way of making beads look old and coming from a dig. Just stick some brand new beads in the mud, and make it seem as if you just dug them up....