General Information

Shikhin was a village located in the central lower Galilee of Israel. Rabbinic sources cite it as a place of pottery manufacture, especially noteworthy for the production of storage jars (Adan-Bayewitz 1993: 23-26). Study has shown that potters here used a single petro-fabric to manufacture various sorts of vessels, including small bottles, medium-sized table jugs, and at least two types of serving bowl/krater (Adan-Bayewitz and Perlman 1990; Adan-Bayewitz and Wieder 1992; Adan-Bayewitz, Asaro, Perlman, and Michel 1995).

The earliest vessel forms so far identified as products of Shikhin are large jars with rounded or squared rims. In the later first century B.C.E. Shikhin potters continued to make large jars, now with squared or straight rims, as well as kraters, jugs, juglets, and small bottles. The ware of the large jars and kraters is still somewhat sandy, but it is lighter brown in color (7.5YR 6/4 – 7/4). Adan-Bayewitz and Wieder describe the results of thin-section analyses of two Shikhin ware store jars and two kraters as “closely similar in microfabric,” with a deliberate admixture of calcareous chalky material to the original clay (1992: 202-203, table 3). Such an addition would likely result in a lighter color after firing. The ware of the jugs, juglets, and small bottles, on the other hand, appears quite different: it has a finer grain (perhaps because it was more carefully levigated) and is bright dark orange in color (2.5YR 6/8).

In the first century C.E., Shikhin potters also began producing a new type of large jar with an offset lip. This jar’s brown fabric appears identical to that of other, earlier brown Shikhin ware jars, and neutron activation analyses confirm the visual identification (Adan-Bayewitz and Wieder 1992, fig. 5.5). Recent discoveries indicate, however, that not all offset lip brown jars are actually from Shikhin. Excavators at Yodefat, just a short distance northwest of Shikhin, have uncovered a kiln containing offset lip jars, all in a brown fabric visually identical to that of brown Shikhin ware jars (Avshalom-Gorni and Getzov 2002, 78, fig. 5.1.4-7). This discovery suggests two other possibilities: first, that potters at Yodefat may have made other vessels in addition to these large jars; and second, that perhaps other brown fabric vessels came not from Shikhin but from sites nearby. While either or both of these possibilities may prove true, however, the salient fact is that these sites are close to one another in central and western lower Galilee. 

Shikhin ware jars of the early-mid 1st c. BCE are slightly sandy in texture and warm light brown in color (5YR 5/4 – 6/4). Towards the end of the century, the fabric is still somewhat sandy, but it is lighter brown in color (7.5YR 6/4 – 7/4). Adan-Bayewitz and Wieder describe the results of thin-section analyses of two Shikhin ware store jars and two kraters as “closely similar in microfabric,” with a deliberate admixture of calcareous chalky material to the original clay (1992: 202-203, table 3). Such an addition would likely result in a lighter color after firing. The jugs, juglets, and small bottles, on the other hand, appear quite different: they have a finer grain (perhaps because they were more carefully levigated) and are bright dark orange in color (2.5YR 6/8).

Gamla (Israel/Golan)

Horbat Rodem (Israel/Beth She'an Valley)

Horbat Zefat 'Adi (Israel/Northern Coastal Plain)

Qeren Naftali (Israel/Galilee)