General Information

Hawarit ware is a distinctive production produced at the ancient site of Khirbet el-Hawarit, west of Majdal Shams, in the northern Golan Heights (Hartal 1989:133; Hartal, Hudson and Berlin 2008). Production of this ware began by the late third or early 4th century CE, and continued through the mid-later fifth century CE. Hawarit cooking ware is thin, reasonably well levigated and hard fired. Most of the forms made were cooking vessels such as cooking pots, casseroles, and lids, though jugs, juglets, lamps, and a series of bowls are also represented.

Hawarit ware vessels are distinctive: they are hard, light of weight, and well made, with thin walls, neat, narrow wheel-ridges, and crisply finished edges. Edges such as lips and handles have a clean and crisp look that suggests tooling. Vessel walls are quite thin and often have a thin to medium gray core in section, though the gray core is absent where the walls are thinnest.

The fabric is hard and fairly gritty, with many small, medium, and large, rounded and angular, black, red, and white inclusions; vessels give off a metallic click when flicked with the fingernail. There are many small and few medium sized white, red, and black inclusions. Long narrow voids are visible in section and smaller ovoid voids are present on untreated surfaces. Section colors are brightly hued, ranging from peach (5YR 7/8) to gold (7.5YR 7/8), but tending toward the latter. A sharp edged thin grey core is often visible, though smaller vessels tend to be fired through. Section color ranges from light orange to a darker orange-red (2.5YR 6/6 to 5YR 7/6 and occasionally 7.5YR 8/6).

The range of color on the exterior of a single vessel is commonly wide, with kiln blush and general mottling of shades of orange. Kiln blush and smoke circles is common, as are over-fired vessels that are gray or black on all surfaces and bluish gray (7.5YR N6) in section. A thin grey slip was applied to some larger vessels (usually cook pots), and in the later phases of production occasional impressed decoration was added to jugs and juglets.