The main characteristic of this ware is its undecorated surface. Therefore, even though it shares clay characteristics with some other categories (like burnished or slipped wares), it is distinguished through its minimal surface treatment. This is a daily used ware, and hence is the most represented group among Cilician Late Bronze Age assemblages (1500-1200). Plain wares exist already in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, which might be the forerunners of LBA Plain Ware. In Cilicia this ware was dealt with in detail first in Gözlükule excavations and called “Plain Monochrome”, where it is used to designate the plain wares of both in LB I and LB II levels (Goldman 1956; Ünlü 2016; Ünlü 2016). I...
LBA Plain Ware from Sirkeli Höyük (Hacıosmanoglu et al. 2022, fig. 2a)
LBA Plain Ware from Sirkeli Höyük (Hacıosmanoglu et al. 2022, fig. 2b)
LBA Plain Ware from Sirkeli Höyük (Hacıosmanoglu et al. 2022, fig. 2c)
In general, this ware has a light brown/buff/light orange fabric color and can be divided into three sub-categories as fine, medium and coarse according to the amount of inclusions. Inclusions could be lime, stone grits, sand, mica, and sometimes chaff, but the recipes would vary across sites and periods. Fine clay is rare and is used more frequently for slipped and burnished wares (which are treated under Burnished Plain Ware/Slipped and Burnished Ware entry, even though theoretically the...
Sirkeli Höyük (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)
Soli Höyük, Pompeiopolis (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)
