Medieval-Modern Levantine Handmade Unpainted ware
Israel/all, Jordan/all
10th c. - 20th c. CE
Middle-Late Islamic/Mamluk, Later Islamic - Fatimid/Mamluk, Ottoman, Ottoman
General Information
This name represents a long-lived, widespread ware family of handmade, unpainted vessels. Examples often appear in the same contexts as Medieval-Ottoman Levantine Handmade Painted Ware vessels, but are attested in 10th century contexts at Petra (Sinibaldi 2016), and probably by the 11th c. at Aqaba (Whitcomb 1988), Humayma, and Gharandal (Walmsley and Grey 2001) in southern Jordan, and at Kh. el-Khurrumiya in northern Israel. Preliminary observations suggest that in the Mamluk period these two wares may sometimes represent different productions in Jordan, with the unpainted wares and some painted wares representing a lower quality manufacturing process and some painted wares representing a higher quality (Petra); in the later Ottoman era the difference in quality between painted and unpainted wares, however, is less clear, and may reflect the same production. Known shapes include large jugs, jars, basins, small bowls, juglets, and lamps with larger utilitarian shapes such as jars and basins being more common. This production differs from Medieval-Ottoman Levantine Handmade Cooking Pot ware in that the latter has more added temper. As with the painted ware, various forming techniques are attested: a slow-turning disc (Petra), coils (Petra), slabs (at Aqaba in Jordan). Poor firing, resulting in a noticeable black core, is usual, and in Petra it is rarely light grey. In Mandate-period Palestine firing was often done in open-air pits, and this may well be th...
Beth She'an, Scythopolis (Israel/Beth She'an Valley)
Horbat Bet Zeneta (Israel/Galilee)
Kfar Kanna, Jebel Khuweikha (Israel/Galilee)
Khirbet Din'ila (Israel/Galilee)
Legio/Lejjun (Israel/Jezreel Valley)
Tel Gush Halav (Israel/Galilee)
Tiberias (Israel/Galilee)
Jerusalem, Old City/East Jerusalem (Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands)
Bayda (Jordan/Southern Sandstone Highlands)
Jabal Harun (Jordan/Southern Sandstone Highlands)
Khirbat al-Dharih (Jordan/Southern Sandstone Highlands)
al-'Aqaba, Aila (Jordan/Wadi 'Arabah)
al-Wu'ayra (Jordan/Southern Sandstone Highlands)
