General Information
This ware was first identified by Whitcomb (1989) in contexts dating to the second half of the 8th century in Ayla (modern al-'Aqaba). He named the ware after an Aramaic inscription found on a juglet of the ware, reading: "(As for) Māḥiš ('Troublemaker'), this demon, and any (demon) that is angry at me -- overturn!" (Whitcomb 1989: 269, n. 1). Whitcomb (1989: 270, 274-275) argues that the ware is transitional between the Late Antique forms typical of the late 7th-early 8th century (i.e. the Umayyad period) at 'Aqaba and the "Classic Samarran" types of the later 'Abbasid period.
Some scholars, e.g. Raith et al. (2013: 324), consider Mahesh Ware to be a local interpretation of Islamic Cream Ware/ICW (see Early Islamic Unglazed Buff Ware), and Walmsley (2001: 311, Table 3) included Mahesh Ware as a variant of ICW-A. The range of forms in Mahesh Ware, however, is broader than and somewhat different from those found in ICW. In addition to the jars, jugs, and flasks typical of ICW-A, Mahesh Ware also includes the beveled cup/bowl forms found in both northern metallic painted ware (see Byzantine-Islamic Geometric Painted Ware) and Fine Byzantine Ware (FBW)/Fine Palestinian Ware (FPW), bowls with flanged, triangular rims recalling Late Roman Red-Slip forms, particularly Egyptian Red Slip A Form J, comb-incised bowls with parallels in both northern Jordan and "the Hijaz and southwest Arabia" (Whitcomb 1989: 273) (Hardy-Guilbert and Rougeulle [1997: 139, n. 5] note the similarities between Yemeni Wavy Line Ware and Mahesh Ware, for example), and comb-incised basins (among the most common forms) that Whitcomb (1989: 273) argues have parallels in northern Jordan and at Samarra. As Damgaard and Jennings (2013: 484) suggest, the ware is probably best understood as a "gradual development" of Ayla Ware (see Aqaba Ware) incorporating a variety of popular Early Islamic forms.
Mahesh Ware is most commonly found in southern Wadi 'Araba and the 'Aqaba Highlands, but is also found in central and northern Wadi 'Araba, e.g. at 'En Marzev (Porath 2016: 65*-66*, Fig. 58.5-10) and in small quantities at several sites in the Faynan region.
DescriptionMahesh Ware is generally characterized by cream colored surfaces, often tinged green, although less commonly the surfaces can be shades of pink or light brown. As with Aqaba Ware/Ayla Ware, the cream surfaces are probably not the result of slipping, "but rather an accumulation of mineral salts, which were drawn to the vessel's surface during firing" (Raith et al. 2013: 322). The cores can range in color from cream to greenish-cream, pink, red, orange, and light brown. The sherds often feel sandy, and the most common aplastic inclusions are quartz, feldspar (primarily plagioclase and potassium feldspar), and gold biotite mica, often with some calcareous inclusions. Mica is almost always visible on macroscopic inspection, but in quite variable quantities, being rare in some sherds and one of the most common aplastic inclusions in others.
