General Information

Brittle Ware vessels of the early-middle Islamic era were made of similar fabrics and via similar production technologies as Brittle Ware vessels of Roman/Byzantine times; but the introduction of a new vessel form and especially the addition of surface decoration suggest that they be considered a new ware family. The new shape was a wide holemouth pot with a distinctly shaped globular body and incurved thickened rim, made in imitation of early Islamic-era soft-stone cooking vessels. Many of these vessels also carried combed and incised designs featuring varying incised zigzag or linear impressions, and so-called "Kerbschnitt" decoration, characterized by the use of a small instrument to chip out portions of the clay to make patterns. These decorations were also applied to other vessel forms, including cooking pots and jugs (Vokaer 2013).

Holemouth cooking pots of the mid-8th to mid-10th centuries were a local tradition of production, with several workshops in the region of northwestern Syria, and are also attested as far as southern Iraq. Three main workshops were operating in the Early Islamic period—one around Apamaea (workshop 4); one around Antioch (workshop 1); and another whose peak came during this period, located perhaps around Aleppo since its products were mainly found there in Dibsi Faraj and Andarin (workshop 6).

Early-Middle Islamic Brittle ware cooking vessels continue to be found throughout Inland Syria, as in the preceding Byzantine era; but beginning in the early Islamic era they appear across a broader geographic region, including sites in southern Turkey, coastal Syria, and much of Iraq. The new shape repertoire, decoration, and the wider distribution may hold clues to how potters and consumers responded to the various social, economic, and political changes of the new Islamic era.

Tall Jawa (Jordan/Central Highlands)

Aleppo (Syria/Homs Desert)

Andarin (Syria/Homs Desert)

Apamea (Syria/Orontes Valley)

Dibsi Faraj (Syria/Homs Desert)

Antioch/Antakya (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)

Tarsus, Gozlukule (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)