Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:13:49.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Did the potter's wheel go out of use in Late Bronze Age Palestine?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Pamela Magrill
Affiliation:
Department of the Ancient Near East, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, England.
Andrew Middleton
Affiliation:
Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, England.

Extract

Wheel-thrown pottery was widely produced in ancient Palestine during the Middle Bronze Age. However, evidence from two sites in Jordan has led to recent suggestions that this technique went out of use throughout the region during the Late Bronze Age. Investigation by xeroradiography of the pottery-forming techniques used in a Late Bronze Age potter's workshop at Lachish, Israel, suggests that the situation may be more complex and that further research is needed before generalized conclusions can be drawn.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amiran, R. & Shenhav, D.. 1984. Experiments with an ancient potter’s wheel, in Rice, P.M. (ed.), Pots and potters: 10712. Los Angeles (CA): University of California. Monograph 21.Google Scholar
Arnold, D. 1993. Techniques and traditions of manufacture in the pottery of Ancient Egypt, in Arnold, D. & Bourriau, J. (ed.), An introduction to Ancient Egyptian pottery: Fascicle 1. Mainz: von Zabern.Google Scholar
Childe, V.R. 1954. Rotary motion, in Singer, C. Holmyard, A.J. & Hall, A.R. (ed.), A history of technology: 187215. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Courty, M.A. & Roux, V.. 1995. Identification of wheel throwing on the basis of ceramic surface features and microfabrics, Journal of Archaeological Science 22: 1750.Google Scholar
Franken, H.J. 1969. Excavations at Tell Deir ‘Alla I: A strati-graphical and analytical study of the Early Iron Age pottery. Leiden: E.J. Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franken, H.J. 1992. Excavations at Tell Deir’Alla: the Late Bronze Age sanctuary. Louvain: Peeters.Google Scholar
Franken, H.J. & London, G.. 1995. Why painted pottery disappeared at the end of the second millennium BCE, Biblical Archaeologist 58: 21422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glanzman, W.D. 1983. Xeroradiographic examination of pottery manufacturing techniques: a test case from the Baq’ah Valley, Jordan, MASCA Journal 2: 1639.Google Scholar
Glanzman, W.D. & Fleming, S.J.. 1986. Technology: fabrication methods, in MoGovern, (ed.): 18477.Google Scholar
Glanzman, W.D. & Fleming, S.J.. 1993. Fabrication methods, in McGovern, (ed.): 94102.Google Scholar
Hope, C. 1981. Two Ancient Egyptian potter’s wheels, Journal of the Society for Study of Egyptian Antiquities 11: 12733.Google Scholar
Killebrew, A. 1993. Ceramic typology and technology of Late Bronze Age II and Iron I Assemblages from Tel Miqne-Ekron: The transition from Canaanite to Philistine Culture, in Gitin, S. Mazar, A. & Stern, E. (ed.), Mediterranean peoples in transition: 379405. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Magrill, P. & Middleton, A.. 1997. A Canaanite potter’s workshop in Palestine, in Freestone, I. & Gaimster, D. (ed.), Pottery in the making: 6873. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Magrill, P. & Middleton, A.. Forthcoming. Late Bronze Age pottery technology: Cave 4034 revisited, in Ussishkin, D. (ed.) The renewed archaeological excavations at Lachish: 1973–1994. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.Google Scholar
McGovern, P.E. (ed.). 1986. The Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages of Central Transjordan: the Baq’ah Valley project, 1977–1981. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania, University Museum. Monograph 65.Google Scholar
McGovern, P.E. (Ed.). 1993. The Late Bronze Egyptian garrison at Beth Shan: a study of Levels VII and VIII. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania, University Museum. Monograph 85.Google Scholar
McGovern, P., Harbottle, G. & Wnlik, C.. 1986. Ware characterization: Petrography, chemical sourcing, and firing, in McGovern, (ed.): 17893.Google Scholar
Middleton, A.P. 1997. Ceramics, in Lang, J. & Middleton, A.P. (ed.), Radiography of cultural materials: 8081. Oxford: Buttcrworth Heinemann.Google Scholar
Middleton, A., Magrill, P. & Humphrey, S.. 2000. A Late Bronze Age Potter’s workshop at Lachish, Israel, Internet Archaeology 9.Google Scholar
Nicholson, P.T. 1994. The potters of Deir Mawas, an ethnoarchaeological study, in Kemp, B.J. (ed.), Amarna Reports VI: 279308. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Nicholson, P.T. & Wendrich, W.Z.. 1994. The potters of Deir Mawas: a village in Middle Egypt (video film). Available from Nicholson, P.T., University of Cardiff, Wales.Google Scholar
Powell, C. 1995. The nature and use of ancient potter’s wheels, in Kemp, B.J. (ed.). Amarna Reports VI: 30935. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1987. Pottery analysis. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rye, O.S. 1977. Pottery manufacturing techniques: X-ray studies, Archaeometry 19: 20511.Google Scholar
Rye, O.S. 1981. Pottery technology. Washington (DC): Taraxacum.Google Scholar
Tufnell, O. 1958. Lachish IV, The Bronze Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ussishkin, D. 1985. Levels VII and VI at Tel Lachish and the end of the Late Bronze Age in Canaan, in Tubb, J.N. (ed.) Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages: 21330. London: University of London, Institute of Archaeology. Occasional Paper 11.Google Scholar
Vandiver, P. 1985/6. An outline of technological changes in Egyptian pottery manufacture, Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 7: 5385.Google Scholar
Vilders, M.M.E. 1993. Some remarks on the production of cooking pots in the Jordan Valley, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 125: 14956.Google Scholar
Wood, B. 1990. The sociology of pottery in Ancient Palestine. The ceramic industry and the diffusion of ceramic style in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Sheffield: Sheffield University Press. JSOT/ASOR Monograph 4.Google Scholar
Woods, A. 1986. Form, fabric, and function: some observations on the cooking pot in antiquity, in Kingery, W.D. (ed.), Ceramics and civilisation II: 15772. Columbus (OH): American Ceramics Society.Google Scholar