General Information

This is a particular production in the Shephelah, primarily for a single vessel shape: beakers. This ware has a calcareous matrix, rich in silt-sized quartz and calcite, from loess and similar sediments. The matrix has silt-sized quartz, with hornblende and epidote, and - most notably - the addition of a great deal of chopped straw and grog, which comprised up to 20% of the final paste. It was one of the most consistently produced wares on the Halif Terrace. All vessels have a thick black core, suggesting that they were fired quickly and/or at a low temperature.

This fabric tradition is similar to that used by Egyptian potters working at the Halif terrace, who made a range of Egyptian-style vessels, including Egyptian open bowls and vats, lotus-shaped bowls, straight-side bowls, and hole mouth jars, in that both wares are heavily straw-tempered.

The time range seems to be limited to a period from late Chalcolithic through EB Ib.

Dessel (2009, pp. 55-56), Ware type Group 7