General Information
Phoenician Monochrome ware is typical of the coastal ceramic production in the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Vessels are decorated in red, often in enclosed band configurations. PXRF analysis has shown that the red pigment derives from iron oxides (Shoval and Gilboa 2016). Potters used this ware only for containers: jars, jugs and flasks.
Petrographic analysis has shown that known Phoenician centers such as Achziv, Keisan and Dor both produced and imported vessels of this ware.
The small lentoid decorated flasks of Phoenician Monochrome ware were evidently popular in Phoenicia and beyond during the Late and Early Iron Ages. Residue analysis of many has shown that they contained cinnamon (Namdar et al. 2013; Gilboa and Namdar 2015). Flasks of this ware have been found at non-Phoenician sites in northern Israel (Dan, Megiddo), the central and southern coast (Azur, Qasile, and Ashdod) and as far south as Nahal Patish in the Negev. Phoenician monochrome flasks have also been found in Cyprus and Egypt.
This ware is indicative of contact with Cyprus and its typical Late Bronze-early Iron Age Cypro-Phoenician wares in that the style adopts that ware's decorative motifs and shapes.
'Ein Hagit (Israel/Carmel Mountains)
Tel Dor (Israel/Carmel coastal plain)
Tell Keisan (Israel/Northern Coastal Plain)
Tell Qasile (Israel/Central Coastal Plain)