General Information

BSP is a fine table ware with a short life-span: it was produced for only about fifty years, from c. 175-125 BCE. In both chemical and mineralogical terms, the clay is identical to that of the slightly earlier Cilician Hellenistic slipped fine ware and ESA; all three likely originated in the same northernmost Levantine coastal region. Some shapes were produced in both BSP and Cilician Hellenistic slipped fine ware, including incurved and everted rim bowls. Other shapes were made in both BSP and its successor ware, ESA, including dishes with upturned rim, platters with offset rim, incurved rim bowls, and bowls with straight wall and out turned rim. The overlaps between shapes, along with the identical clay origins, indicate that in the second century BCE there was a particularly lively, innovative ceramic industry centered along the northernmost Levantine coast. 

Description

Very clean, hard, dense light yellowish-pink fabric (5YR 7/4–7.5YR 8/4) with no visible inclusions, fully fired. Vessels are covered with a smooth, semi-lustrous slip, applied evenly to all surfaces by dipping. The slip may be fired completely black or a mottled red-black or maroon color. Some vessels are black outside and red inside, probably as a result of stacking in the kiln. Samples of BSP and ESA from Tel Anafa tested by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis fell into the same mineralogical cluster (Slane et al. 1997). Concurrent results were achieved in INAA tests by Gunneweg, Perlman and Yellin (1983) on samples from Gezer, demonstrating that both wares share a common origin.

In earlier publications BSP vessels have been grouped with ESA vessels as a single ware, sometimes called ESA (Hayes 1985), and sometimes called ETS-1 (Gunneweg, Perlman, and Yellin 1983).

Israel

'Akko, Harbor (Israel/Northern Coastal Plain)

Caesarea Maritima (Israel/Central Coastal Plain)

Gezer (Israel/Shephelah)

Horbat Zefat 'Adi (Israel/Northern Coastal Plain)

Khirbet el-'Eika (Israel/Galilee)

Maresha/Marisa (Israel/Shephelah)

Qedesh/Kedesh (Israel/Galilee)

Qeren Naftali (Israel/Galilee)

Tel Anafa (Israel/Hula Valley)

Israel-Palestinian Authority

Jerusalem, West Jerusalem (Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands)

Lebanon

Baalbek (Lebanon/Biqa Valley)

Beirut (Lebanon/Northern Coast)

Syria

Tall Qiswa, Tell Jessoua (Syria/Hauran)

Turkey

Antioch/Antakya (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)

Kinet Höyük (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)