General Information

Late Philistine Decorated Ware (LPDW), long called “Ashdod Ware” for the site at which it was first defined, is a distinct style that appears in the southern and coastal regions of Israel during the Iron Age II period. LPDW vessels are covered in a thick dark red slip, vertical hand-burnishing, and over-painted black and/or white designs. LPDW first appears in the Iron Age IIA (10th century BCE), and continues into Iron IIB (9th-8thcenturies BCE). Petrographic analyses demonstrate that vessels were produced in both coastal (e.g., Ashdod) and inland cities (e.g., Tell es-Safi/Gath), all within the region known in antiquity as Philistia. The most common shapes are small and large bowls, and jugs. The shapes and their decorated exterior suggest that they were intended for serving and consuming food and drink, whether for everyday use or special occasions such as banquets or ceremonies. The bichrome patterns on LPDW vessels evoke those seen on Philistine II: Iron Age Bichrome ware, which dates to the previous Iron Age I era, and may reflect an interest in retaining a distinctive material identity in the crowded cultural milieu of the Iron Age II southern Levant.*

* This description was written by Ruizhe Yin as part of a project for a course at Boston University in Fall 2025: AR 590, Life Is A Bowl, taught by Professor Andrea M. Berlin.