Inclusions and Innovations in Late Neolithic Pottery from the Southern Levant

Summary

Discussions of variation over time in early Near Eastern pottery production often focus on linking changes in form or surface treatment to shifts in how pots were being used, either as a functional cooking or storage container or, in some cases, as a symbolic object. More rarely, compositional characteristics (clay, temper) are examined and these too have been considered in terms of vessel use. Some tempers, for example, are thought to be beneficial for the production of cooking pots because of their thermal properties. In this paper I examine developments in the production of Late Neolithic pottery from the southern Levant, focusing on fabric composition and texture. Rather than seeing a straightforward link between these properties and vessel use, I argue for a more nuanced perspective that considers the influence and continued impact of earlier technological innovations. In particular, drawing on evidence from petrographic analyses, the economics of increasing returns, and theories of object entanglement, I consider how similar ceramic fabrics might reflect a range of pottery uses, including expedient vessels that were not made with longevity in mind.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Micro-worlds, materiality and human behaviour: Magnifying material science in explanations of technology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage