General Information

This ware is dominated by the intentional inclusion of sand-sized fragments of quartz-mica schist. The mica schist comes from a well-defined metamorphic belt: the Median Crystalline Belt, which begins in the southern part of Euboea and extends past Aegina, Naxos, Mykonos, and Samos, and on into the Anatolia interior around Miletos (Whitbread 1995a:fig. A1.1). Thus on petrographic evidence alone, the precise origin cannot be more narrowly identified. However since different producers throughout this wide region created various shapes, it is often possible to pinpoint the origin by comparing specific forms.

Coarse, yellowish-red (5YR 4/6) clay. Very micaceous with fine to large mica flakes and pieces and occasional small white and dark grits.

Ashkelon (Israel-Palestinian Authority/Southern Coastal Plain)