Adapting to Changing Resources: A Petrographic Analysis of Iron I Pottery from Tel Miqne-Ekron

Summary

The arrival of foreigners to the southern Levant at the beginning of the Iron Age (1200-1000 BCE) has been recognized in the material culture, as have changes in this material culture over time. These developments, resulting from interaction with the local population, have been interpreted as assimilation, acculturation, creolization, and most recently entanglement. In this poster, we examine these transformations through the lens of technological, i.e. those aspects of pottery manufacture that reflect shared technical choices and transmitted knowledge. At the site of Tel Miqne-Ekron, morphological analysis has defined two distinct but contemporary potting traditions: a non-local and an indigenous one. In this study, petrographic analysis of ceramic thin sections are used to first test these observations. Secondly, we examine changes over time in clay and temper use. As raw material use is tightly linked to almost all other aspects of the ceramic production process, e.g., drying time, firing, manufacturing style, vessel function, many observed stylistic changes in the non-local ceramics probably resulted from the need for foreign potters to adapt to local resources. Recognizing shifts in raw materials, and thus resource acquisition, should provide new insights into understanding the working relationships between these two co-habiting populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22713