Perfecting Local Production of Desert Pottery

The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia, 2017

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 2025

The site of Dadan, in the al-ʿUlā valley, is one of the major and longest-settled ancient oasis settlements in northwest Arabia. As part of the Saudi-French Dadan Archaeological Project (CNRS/RCU/AFALULA), a study of its pre-Islamic ceramic assemblage has been underway since 2020. This article presents the preliminary results obtained during the autumn 2021 and spring 2022 field seasons. Based on a macroscopic examination of excavation and survey material, 16 different macrofabrics were identified and characterized, and first clues to their associated manufacturing techniques and morphological/decorative repertoire were collected. Using stratigraphic data and regional comparisons, broad chronological ranges can be proposed for each of these productions, and five ceramic horizons, characterized by both local productions and imports, can be tentatively outlined, extending from the late third millennium BCE to the early first millennium CE.

Ceramics International, 2019

The paper presents an archaeometric investigation of ancient ceramics from the archaeological site of Tell el-Far'ah North (West Bank), dated to the south-Levantine Early Bronze I-II (EB I-II, 3300-2700 BC). The application of mineralogical and chemical analyses by optical and scanning electron microscopy yielded the identification of petro-fabrics that allow the reconstruction of the raw material nature used in the manufacture as well as its provenance. The results indicate that the ceramics were produced using calcareous clays with inclusions of sedimentary rock fragments, calcite crystals, iron oxides and quartz. Two basic fabrics have been identified according to the presence or absence of coarse and angular calcite crystals. The optical activity of the matrix and the presence of calcareous inclusions indicate a maximum firing temperature lower than 850°C and in the range 700-850°C for those ceramics showing an initial decarbonation process of calcareous inclusions. The nature of the inclusions supports a local supply of raw materials. Moreover, the comparison between the ceramic material of the two subsequent occupational phases at the site allowed achieving important information about the development of the material and technological knowledge reached by its ancient potters, in the transition from the EB I community to the EB II urban centre.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2014

This paper summarises typological and technological research on a small assemblage of pottery containers recovered at Kfar HaHoresh (KHH), a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site in the Southern Levant. The majority of the sherds belong to a distinguishable fabric, composed of local marl matrix tempered with vegetal material originating from herbivore manure. Based on the scarcity and properties of the sherds, we propose that the pottery containers at KHH were rare vessels possibly produced for personal use or for use by distinctive individuals for very limited purposes.

Atiqot, 2024

This paper delves into the intriguing Early Islamic mold-decorated Buff Ware jugs found in the rural Negev region, shedding light on the broader phenomenon of imitations, in general and particularly, within the context of a rural farmstead situated on the southern bank of Naḥal Be'er Sheva'. To accomplish this, we analyzed petrographically 22 sherds from nine sites spanning various geographic areas within modern-day Israel, aiming to reveal invaluable insights into mold-decorated Buff Ware production and distribution. The primary objectives of this study were twofold: first, to explore the degree of centralization in mold-decorated Buff Ware production, and second, to determine whether some of these vessels were manufactured locally within rural settlements, alongside their production in large urban centers such as Ramla.

Material Worlds: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Contacts and Exchange in the Ancient Near East, 2023

C. Kainert and P. Drechsler, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 44, 213‒226, 2014

This paper presents the first results of the pottery analysis from Dosariyah, a Middle Neolithic site located close to the shore of the Central Gulf in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, which dates to the late sixth and early fifth millennium BC. With almost 15,000 single pieces of pottery, the assemblage recovered from the site represents the largest amount of ceramic material of this period that is known from the whole Arabian Peninsula. Its examination will provide data concerning the relationship between, and diachronic changes in, the two main types of pottery, ΚUbaid Ware and Coarse Ware, during the time of habitation. Both wares appear from the beginning of occupation onwards but their characteristics vary in numerous aspects, a fact that points towards an independent and indigenous ceramic tradition of the Coarse Ware. At the same time the occurrence of three Coarse Ware pieces bearing an incised decoration with a geometrical pattern and two Coarse Ware rim fragments apparently imitating a specific ΚUbaid vessel shape led to questioning the actual value of the vessels as well as the consistency of availability of imported pots from distant regions, such as southern Mesopotamia.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021

The Faynan region of southern Jordan became a center of industrial-scale metallurgical production during the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, socio-economic developments of the Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 6500-5500 B.C.E.) that helped set the stage for the rise of complex copper-producing societies are not well-understood. In this paper, we focus on ceramic technology at the early Pottery Neolithic site of Wadi Fidan 61 in the western part of the Faynan region. The composition of 38 pottery sherds is characterized using an analytical approach that integrates petrography, instrumental geochemistry and Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Results indicate six distinct clay recipes and suggest the use of different clay deposits and tempering materials from locations within ca. 5 km of the site. Implications of this compositionally diverse pottery assemblage are considered, possibly linking this initial phase of ceramic production in the Faynan wi...

Studis in the History and Archaeology of Jordan X (2009), 2009

Gerasa/Jerash: From the Urban Periphery, 2017

This chapter provides an overview of the methods, objectives, and preliminary results of analysis on the Middile Islamic ceramics from the northwest quarter of Jerash, excavated as part of the Danish-German Northwest Quarter Project. By using a contextual approach to the ceramic repertoire, both the settlement history and the urban lifestyle of a newly discovered Middle Islamic settlement can be better understood. Research of the pottery, structures, and other material finds from the Middile Islamic hamlet in the northwest quarter has demonstrated that a substancial building complex, with international connections and higher socioeconomic conditions, existed over at least several generations. As such, Jerash now represents an important new and previously unkown node of Middile Islamic activity in northern Jordan.

NEOLITHIC POTTERY FROM THE NEAR EAST PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND USE, 2021

This paper presents the results of a large-scale analytical program undertaken on Neolithic ceramics from the Homs region, the Beqaa, and Northern Lebanese Coast. Like other parts of the Northern Levant, a burnished ware tradition is found across these regions from the very introduction of ceramics to the area. Through the 6th and 5th millennia BCE, however, two distinct provinces form. To the south, in Lebanon and the Homs area, burnished wares continue to be produced, whereas to the north and east painted traditions take hold. What first appears a seemingly simple matter of local preference endures, and these areas are set on differing trajectories, resulting in the development during the Bronze Age of a fairly rigid stylistic and technological boundary between what have traditionally been termed ‘Syrian’ styles to the north and ‘Palestinian’ styles to the south. This study integrates an archaeometric approach with traditional macroscale studies to track the development of ceramic technologies, modes of production and decorative traditions in the Late Neolithic of the Central Levant. The resulting data provides deeper insight into key influences on the development of later ceramic traditions of the region which in turn enhances our understanding of the formation, maintenance and remodelling of distinct regional assemblages and their meaning in the pre-classical Levant.

Pp. 507-594 in J.A. Sauer and L.G. Herr (eds.), Ceramic Finds: Typological and Technological Studies of the Pottery Remains from Tell Hesban and Vicinity. Hesban 11. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2012., 2012