The well-sorted, rounded quartz sand in conjunction with the kurkar fragments point to a coastal environment. The co-occurrence of quartz-dominated coastal sand with tuff narrows down the possible origin of this fabric. Along the south Levantine coast this combination only occurs on the Carmel coast southwest of Mount Carmel, which provides Upper Cretaceous tuff (e.g., Segev and Sass 2009) and is also covered with terra rossa soil (Ravikovitch 1969).
Comparative data: The combination of coastal sand with tuff was observed in Philistine Bichrome-related wares from Tel Dor (Gilboa, Cohen-Weinberger and Goren 2006: Group Hm2) =PG7 in Martin 2017.
The matrix of this petro-fabric is calcareous and sparse in quartzitic silt (~2%), with significant
amounts of foraminifera. Heavy minerals and feldspars (plagioclase, 140 µm) are
rare. Non-plastic inclusions comprise quartz (3% of the slide area), tuff (2%),
calcareous sand (limestone, calcite) as well as the occasional kurkar and terra rossa balls. The quartz sand is well sorted and rather fine
(up to 250 µm), rounded to sub-rounded and often spherical.
The well-sorted, rounded quartz sand in conjunction with the kurkar fragments point to a coastal environment. The co-occurrence of quartz-dominated coastal sand with tuff narrows down the possible origin of this fabric. Along the south Levantine coast this combination only occurs on the Carmel coast southwest of Mount Carmel, which provides Upper Cretaceous tuff (e.g., Segev and Sass 2009) and is also covered with terra rossa soil (Ravikovitch 1969).
Comparative data: The combination...
c. 500 BCE - 1st c. BCE
Achaemenid Persian, Iron Age III/Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic, Hellenistic, Early Roman, Early Roman
