General Information

Nabataean Cream Ware is a distinctive, finely made, light-colored ceramic ware found at Petra and elsewhere in the ancient Nabataean kingdom. Vessels were commonly decorated with finely combed wavy lines and/or bits of applied clay. This ware was first defined by Khairieh 'Amr ('Amr 1992); she noted that vessels are almost identical in color and, sometimes, surface treatment to similarly decorated early Islamic buff wares - but were regularly found in contexts of the 1st and 2nd c. CE, generally also with vessels of Nabataean Painted Fine Ware.

Nabataean Cream Ware vessels can have an interior color ranging from pale yellowish white to light brown to pink or red, but the surface is always a pale light cream to greenish-white in color. 'Amr explained that this light-colored surface was not a slip but a result of potters adding fine sand as temper. The sand contains salt, which migrates to the surface of the clay when firing and creates the light colored surface. This same technique was used by potters in the early Islamic period, and also by 19th-20th c. potters in the region of Hebron (Israel) ('Amr 1992, pp. 222-223). The sand temper makes the clay fabric more porous, and is especially helpful for vessels used to store water and keep it cool (Murray and Ellis 1940, p. 20).

The forms of Nabataean Cream Ware were primarily closed vessels for household use, mostly jars and jugs of various shapes, including small jars with ribbed neck, two-handled jars often with a strainer, narrow-mouthed jars with everted rims or an interior ledge. The single open shape known are thin-walled bowls. The two-handled jars/strainer jars generally also carry incised decoration on the neck and shoulder, usually wavy combed lines ('Amr 1992, p. 223).

The ware's end date has yet to be confirmed, but the vessels may primarily be associated with the Nabataean Kingdom as they are rarely found in use contexts dating to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. A review of the distribution range is needed, but it seemly followed that of Nabataean Painted Fineware (NPFW). 

The interior fabric can be various colors, from pale yellow (2.5Y 7.5/4) to white (10YR 8/2) to pink (5YR 7/4) to light red (2.5YR 6/6). The surface ranges from a very pale brown (10YR 8/3) to pale yellow, cream, or white (5Y 8/3 - 2.5Y 8/2). 

Vessels with a pale yellow core may also contain few white and grey, and rare medium light grey grits as well as occasional mica flecks ('Amr 1992, p. 221, describing a sherd from the Southern Ghors and Northeast 'Araba Archaeological Survey directed by Burton MacDonald).

Nabataean or Petra Cream Ware is often mistaken for Aila Coarseware as both are lighter in color, overlap in distribution area, and date to the Classical period in southern Jordan. The primarily difference is the texture/hardness of firing and the presence/abscence of gold-colored mica. Nabataean Cream Ware has a chalkier feel, is not as hard fired, and mostly lacks any mica. Aila Coarseware, on the other hand, is harder fired (although not as hard fired as Petra coarseware) and has significant amounts of mica. 

Petra Cream Ware

Humayma (Jordan/Aqaba Highlands)

Khirbat Faynan (Jordan/Wadi 'Arabah)