Levantine pottery

The history of pottery in the region begins in the Late Neolithic period, sometimes known as Pottery Neolithic (PN) or occasionally, based on a supposed local sequence of the site of Jericho, Pottery Neolithic A.

There is no good evidence for pottery production in Early Neolithic (Pre-pottery Neolithic/PP) times, but the existence of pyrotechnology that allowed humans to attain temperatures in excess of 1000 °C for reducing limestone to lime to make plaster, indicates a level of technology ripe for the discovery of pottery and its spread. In the PPN period portable vessels of lime plaster, called "vaisselles blanche" or "White Ware" served some of the functions that pottery later fulfilled. These vessels tended to be rather large and coarse and were somewhat rare.

There are some indications that pottery may have been in use in the third and final phase of Early Neolithic, PPNC (recognized Early Neolithic phases are, beginning with the earliest, PPNA, PPNB and PPNC); however such artifacts are rare, their provenance equivocal and the issue remains in doubt. Approximately sometime in the late 6th millennium BC pottery was introduced into the southern Levant and it became widely used. The supposedly sophisticated forms and technological and decorative aspects suggested to archaeologists that it must have been received as an imported, technological advance from adjacent regions to the north and was not developed locally. The evidence for this hypothesis, however, remains equivocal for lack of documentation in the archaeological record. This hypothesis also does not take into account the bulk of simple, rudely fashioned vessels that were part of the ceramic repertoire of this period.

Because of discoveries of earlier pottery traditions made starting in the 1990s, the time frame for the initial Late Neolithic ceramic period is thought to be roughly 7000-6700 BCE.[1] These earliest pottery traditions may be known in literature as 'Initial Pottery Neolithic' in the Balikh River area of Syria and Turkey, for example Tell Sabi Abyad.[2] Or it may be known as 'Halula I' in the Syrian Euphrates area; the main site is Tell Halula. Also, it may be known as 'Rouj 2a' in Northern Levantine Rouj basin (Idlib, Syria).[1][3]

By the earliest PN phase pottery was ubiquitous and it remained so for virtually all periods in the southern Levant until modern times. Exceptions were in desert areas where semi-nomads favored less heavy, fragile and bulky arrangements. Pottery styles, based mostly on form, fabric and decorative elements have been used to help identify chrono-cultural phases. White ware remained in use, but it seems to have remained rare and the vessels were often small and rather delicate. It is possible that not a few such vessels were found and identified as pottery.

The earliest PN phase is associated with the site of Sha'ar HaGolan in the Jordan Valley. This pottery is sometimes called "Yarmukian Ware". The diagnostic pottery typical of this period is somewhat sophisticated. Its most outstanding aspect is the use of long, narrow, incised bands of lines filled with herringbone decoration, often painted red or yellow. Forms of vessels may be quite delicate and lug handles on small jars with long necks are not uncommon. More common, coarser and less well made vessels are also present but are less diagnostic for the period.

Common or cruder wares generally have simple shapes and are often less well finished and are not decorated. Vessel walls of this class are often of uneven thickness and look 'lumpy'. This crude aspect is often further emphasized by grass-wiped exteriors and the negative impressions left by straw or vegetal tempers (i.e. chopped up dried grass or weeds) which combust and leave hollows after firing. These inclusion were either added intentionally, or are the unintentional result of poorly levigated (i.e. a process of purifying clay by removal of natural, non-clay inclusions such as stones and plant materials) or unlevigated clay, and are characteristic of this coarse Neolithic pottery. Later Neolithic pottery tends to favor the use of different tempers, sand, gravel, small stones and sometimes grog (ground up pottery). Much Neolithic pottery is low-fired and did not attain temperatures far above 600°C, which is more or less the minimum required for creating pottery from low-fired clays. Probably these vessels were pit-fired rather than fired in kilns, although such an hypothesis remains to be proven. To date there is no direct evidence in excavation based literature on how Neolithic peoples of the southern Levant fired their pottery.

Later Neolithic pottery has less distinctive features. Work at Jericho by K. Kenyon suggested to her two periods of Late Neolithic, based on the existence of coarser and finer pottery groups. The former, supposedly representing a less sophisticated and earlier occupation, was labeled PNA (Pottery Neolithic A); the latter was called PNB (Pottery Neolithic B). Many researchers now believe the difference to be one of function rather than evidence for chronological differences between these two groups, since examples of each are often found in contemporary contexts. Thus, PNB types are often designated as fine or luxury wares.

The site of Munhatta, excavated by J. Perrot, has contributed a large series of ceramic assemblages dated to the Neolithic period. In one phase there are some extraordinarily sophisticated ceramic vessels of especially finely levigated, highly polished or burnished (polishing of almost dry, leather hard, surfaces of unfired clay to produce a smooth surface that becomes shiny when fired), black fabric. Other pottery suggests that some potters in this period, dated later than an earlier, "Yarmukian" phase at the site (identified by Sha'ar HaGolan type pottery), were highly skilled craftspeople. One researcher, Y. Garfinkel, refers to this phase as "Jericho IX" after a stratum and associated pottery excavated by J. Garstang at Jericho (he excavated at Jericho prior to Kenyon). The decorated pottery of this period often has red paint in the form of stripes, sometimes in large, wide herringbone-like decorations.

Not all pottery from these phases is so chrono-culturally diagnostic. Most vessels are of plain wares and utilitarian types. In addition, other methods of decoration are known in the later Neolithic. They include the use of slips (color applied to an entire vessel), burnishing and incising (e.g. notching, combing, slashing, etc.). Wavy lines of combing, often combined with painting are one of the distinctive types of Late Neolithic decoration associated with the Rabah phase (see below). The use of red slips and paints is common in this and later periods, and is probably the direct outcome of clays used, which are rich in iron oxides that tend, under some conditions, to fire to earthy red tones ranging from brown to orange and brick-red. These same clays, when fired in a reducing atmosphere (i.e. devoid of oxygen) often become gray or black in color. Dark colored, gray to black cores on some pots indicate incomplete firing

The most recent PN phase is named after the site of Wadi Rabah, excavated by J. Kaplan. Y. Garfinkel relegates this final LN period to Early Chalcolithic. The distinction seems to be mostly a matter of terminology. Since there is no definitive break between Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic, each researcher must decide what is Neolithic and what is Early Chalcolithic. The situation is even more complicated because there appears to be considerable regional variation in Neolithic pottery assemblages and not a little confusion as to what constitutes chrono-culturally related assemblages. That is a function of the generally poor preservation of PN sites and the way in which they were excavated.

Summary: Neolithic pottery may well have arrived as a full-blown technological set from more northerly regions. Pottery appears to have become ubiquitous in the southern Levant by late in the 6th millennium and remained as an integral part of human material culture up to the present. Some local potters showed particular skill in their production, which suggests, as is the case with flint knappers, real craft specialization. That is related to skills in finding and preparing raw materials, fashioning pots, decorating them, and controlling the pyrotechnology needed to turn them into pottery. Some aspects of pottery, form, fabric, modes of decoration are relatively reliable diagnostic indicators of chrono-cultural identities of human society. Pottery, mostly in the form of sherds, often makes up the bulk of material culture artifacts found on excavated sites dating from the PN period.

What is clear is that in the earliest phases of EB I there is a pronounced regionalism that becomes less visible over time. Regionalism is particularly marked in the earliest phase of Early Bronze I, with a dichotomy between northern and southern spheres of influence and a mosaic of more localized traditions within those larger spheres. In the southern region pie-crust type decoration is commonly found on large storage jars, while for the first time this type of detail is also found on holemouth vessels. The ledge handle becomes prominent in this period; its earliest exponents, obviously inherited from the preceding period, is notable for almost invariably having a wavy-line edge in many variations. Only rather late in the period and in specific regions was this appendage made with smooth edges. Poor preservation at most southern sites has limited knowledge of the typology of this early phase.

Pottery from the northern region fully recognized as Early Bronze I, shows less evidence of owing its inspiration to the preceding period. However, this may merely be a function of limited perception by researchers who fail to distinguish the pottery of what may be an initial phase of Early Bronze I.

A slightly later phase is well known from a number of sites, the best known of which is Yiftah'el in the Beit Netofa Valley system. The site has yielded a relatively large corpus of reasonably preserved vessels. The most distinctive pottery of this period is known as "Gray Burnished ware" or sometimes as "Esdraelon ware" or Proto-Urban C pottery. This ware is known for its generally gray color, highly burnished finish, and a limited and distinctive range of morphological types, almost invariably bowls. Most of the bowls have a carinated (angled) profile, some of them with flat projections forming an undulating line in a birds eye view. Similar morphological types are also found in red or in buff colors. Additional ceramic types have features that are reminiscent of Chalcolithic types. In addition the ledge handle is also prominent in this period. Pottery is always handmade and in the earliest phases appears to have been home-made by local potters working within general traditions of how a pot should look, but with little slavish copying. The high loop handle was popular in this period for jugs and juglets.

A second phase of Early Bronze I may be seen in both the northern and southern regions. In the north much pottery is painted or slipped red and burnished. Gray Burnished ware continues to be made but examples of this ware, in the earlier period finely made and obviously luxury items, are less well made.

A related morphological type is a curved bowl with a line of evenly spaced conical protrusions just below the rim on the exterior of the vessel. Such bowls are also known to be red-slipped in the north; in the south similar types are very rare and neither slipped nor burnished. Grain-wash, a kind of painting that leave a pattern that is slightly reminiscent of wood (sometimes called band-slip) makes its appearance in this period in the north. Pithoi are of different types. Two well-known types are distinguished by their rims; one has a pronounced bow-rim, while the other has a thickened rim with regular striations that give it its name, 'rail rim'.

In the south there remains a deal of regionality, stressed by two types of decorated wares which only slightly overlap in their distribution. They are 'line painted group', red lines usually on a light background. Within that group is a very distinctive 'basket style', that imitates basketry. This type was commonly found in the Hill Country around Jerusalem and down to Jericho and Bab edh-Dhra in the Jordan Rift Valley.

Further south, in the Shephela (piedmont) down to the Northern Negev is found a group of pottery with distinctive striated handles, often double stranded, and sometimes with thin coils of clay wrapped horizontally around where the handles were attached to the vessel walls. Other generic types were made, including more standardized pithoi, often with a thick, with quick-lime type coating on their exteriors. These pithoi were commonly decorated with flat, thin strips of clay placed horizontally around the vessel in 1 or more bands and pressed flat at regular intervals so as to give the impression of a rope.

It is in this period that there is a great increase of standardization within the larger spheres, northern and southern. While no center of pottery production has yet been found, there seems to be evidence for extensive trading of pottery between sites or possibly from a central point of production. Only extensive petrographic analyses can help to prove this and perhaps pinpoint some possible location for such centers.

By the third and final phase of Early Bronze I there remains a dichotomy between north and south, with red-burnishing as opposed to no burnishing and the extensive use of white, quick-lime slip reflecting northern and southern traditions, respectively. Extensive trade of ceramics, or possibly groups of itinerant potters seem to have left much evidence for their movement or that of pots between regions and within regions. Morphological types are shared from region to region and sphere to sphere, but often with localized details.

All pottery from this period is handmade. Egyptian imported pottery if found in some sites in the south western region in this period. Most sites have only a small quantity, but a few select sites suggest prolonged contacts with Egyptians and possibly even Egyptians residing in the southern Levant.

Khirbet Kerak ware, in a museum in Tel Aviv

Pottery of Early Bronze I in the north seems to presage that of Early Bronze II in terms of morphology and decoration (especially red painting and burnishing), although in the later period potters achieved similar types through very different technological approaches.

Wheels seem to have come into use and new fabrics, better levigated (cleared of coarse materials) were made. So-called 'metallic ware' was introduced in this period. Some examples look as if they were imitating metal, while the high-fired fabrics give off a metallic-like ring when struck. Jugs, platters of this ware were found alongside others of more plain fabrics.

'Metallic ware' was probably made somewhere in Lebanon or in the region of Mount Hermon and disseminated to the south, generally as far as the Jezreel Valley. Further south similar morphological types are known, but they are of different wares.

Khirbet Kerak ware

Early Bronze III types continue the earlier tradition, but in the north a new ware type, transported from the Caucasus[4] and probably brought overland via Anatolia and Syria, makes its appearance.

First discovered at Khirbet Kerak (Tel Bet Yerah) on the Kinneret during the 1920s, it is known as Khirbet Kerak ware, and it is associated with the Kura-Araxes culture that developed in the Caucasus area. It was obviously made by potters who brought the tradition with them. Examples are of highly distinctive types, jugse and jars, sometimes with fluting, painted and highly burnished red or black or a combination of these colors, andirons, some with decorations and faces, and carinated bowls.

Khirbet Kerak ware was always handmade. It is also known as Red Black Burnished ware (sometimes hyphenated "Red-Black") in west Syrian and Amuq Valley contexts. In Transcaucasia - from which area it seems ultimately to have originated - the ware is also referred to as Karaz or Pulur ware. As such, it may be associated with the later historic appearance of the people recognised historically as the Hurrians. Petrographic analyses shows some of it was made locally. Other local traditions continue and eventually influenced the pottery of the Intermediate Age, which followed.

The potter's wheel, used primarily for throwing small bowls using centrifugal force is known from this period. It represents an innovation that was continued in the following period, when it was employed to fashion rims for vessels of certain types. The piriform juglet makes its appearance in this period, but whether it has any connection with the later, Middle Bronze II vessels of analogous form, is unclear. With the exception of Khirbet Kerak ware, the pottery of this period continues the Early Bronze traditions and passed them on to the people who populated the small communities of the succeeding period.

The local shows that there is a clear evolution of the pottery through the MB to this period. The difference that can be remarked between the two periods is that the juglets that were once of great dispersion go down in popularity and become gray as the Late Bronze Age begins. In fact the local pottery is now mass-produced in a rough and cheap manner.

Paint decoration returns to fashion, even though it is simply added to the light buff slip, and sometimes without slip. The paint shows many different geometric shapes, and sometimes inside painted on rectangular panels called metopes a sacred tree flanked by two antelopes can be found.

Again in this period we can see that the majority of this group is red paint on black background. The most common vessels that we find this type in are kraters, jars and jugs. This group, after being tested with neutron activation techniques, shows that it was imported from eastern Cyprus; this includes Cypriot Bichrome ware. The major controversy is whether the Cypriot market produced Canaanite styles for exporting purposes, or whether Canaanites were producing the pottery for the home consumption in Israel. This pottery was also to be found in Megiddo locally made.

Bilbil juglets - Late Bronze Period Pottery in Hecht Museum, Haifa, Israel - Base Ring ware; Late Bronze Age IIB ca. 1400-1200 BCE

This is a selection of handmade pottery in different ware styles. These styles are called: Base Ring, White Slip, Monochrome, White Shaved, White Painted, Bucchero. Of these different kinds, Monochrome, White Slip, and Base Ring were most used. It appears as though this type of pottery was found to be decorative in nature rather than useful.[5] "Bilbil juglets" are an example of Base Ring ware, which are pottery and have long slim necks.[6][7] Archaeologists speculate that bilbil juglets may have been used in the trade of opium, due to traces of opiates found in some of the styles of the jugs, as well as the shape of the vessel resembling an upturned Papaver somniferum.[8]

Distribution of pottery Neolithic sites in Southern Levant

This pottery was produced on inland Greece and throughout the Aegean islands. The fabrication technique used was fast-wheel, with fine well-levigated clay. The slip was of a light cream color to give the background to the exquisite decoration normally done in dark-brown color. Vessel types were small and closed flasks or "stirrup jars". Towards the end of the Bronze Age there is evidence that Mycenaean Late Helladic IIIC pottery was being made by local potters from Canaanite clays. Either this indicates a resident population of Mycenaean potters in the so-called Philistine cities, or else it reflects an ethnic movement of new cultural elements into this region.

Philistine Bichrome ware is the descendant of the imported Mycenaean ware of the past period, which is known also as Mycenaean IIIC1b. This new style of pottery is made locally. Neutron analysis proves that it could have even been made in the same workshop. It began at approximately the 12th century BC and began to disappear towards the end of the 11th century BC. The style is slightly influenced by Egypt but mostly by Canaanite. The Mycenaean tradition holds a firm grasp over the shape of the pottery (for example "stirrup jars"), whereas bottles are found to share Cypriot styles (seen by tall and narrow necks). The decoration of this new ware has changed to red and black paints on a whitish slip. Birds and fish are found to be common on Mycenaean IIIC1b but less on the new style, in fact by the second half of the 11th century the bird which was once thought to be sacred disappeared from the pottery.

The new Israelite settlers began by using basic types of Canaanite pottery until they began developing simple copies of the purchased pottery so as to meet their needs. The hallmark of this early Israelite style is the pithoi. They are scattered over these sites. Many of the storage jars had The "Collared Rim", which were most popular to the central part of Israel, although they have since also been found to also have been manufactured in areas outside of the Israelite settlement area.

In exploring the similarities throughout the different eras, Macalister discusses Palestinian pottery in the Arab period and its shared characteristics with the ancient and modern pottery produced in Palestine.[11] Of the pottery from the Arab period, he notes: "...there seem to have been large globular jars, not unlike the Pre-Semitic and First Semitic barrel-shaped jars." He describes them as having "ledge-handles, though of a different shape from the early ledge-handles," and continues to write that, "... this kind of handle is still made in native pottery."[11] Further, he notes that jar-covers from this period are strikingly similar to those of the "earliest type of ware", the "Second Semitic jar-covers, with two loops in the middle of the saucer."[11]

The Potter and Wheel, Jaffa, in 1859. From Thomson, p. 282.

The lamps produced during the Arab period are "either of the Hellenistic type, with long spout, or the Byzantine slipper form."[11] The "Third Semitic lamp" which almost completely disappears during the Hellenistic period, comes into use once again during the Arab period and Macalister notes that it is still frequently used among the Arab inhabitants of Palestine.[11]

Some of the linear decoration techniques also show a "startling resemblance to the painted ornament of the Second Semitic Period."[11] Macalister notes that the major differences are that "The slip and the paint have a fatter, richer texture in the Arab ware than in the Amorite, and the painted devices are more geometrical, more mechanical, and also more minute and 'finicking' in the later than in the earlier pottery."[11] As for similarities with the Roman period, horizontal ribbing, a key characteristic of Roman era pottery, "is as common in this period as in the Roman, but it seems to differ in outline."[11]