General Information

Light-Faced Painted Ware was named by Helene Kantor (1965). Vessels are thin-walled and delicately painted with lines of equal thickness; possibly they were also high-fired. The painting, in red or brown, was done on light colored, usually polished slips, aspects from which the ware’s name is derived. The refined technique indicates that they are products of highly skilled potters.

The shapes of Light-Faced Painted Ware vessels have parallels in southern Levantine forms of the Early Bronze Age II, which suggests that the origin of this distinctive group may be found somewhere in the Levant. Small numbers of Light-Faced Painted Ware vessels are known from sites in both the southern and northern Levant (Amiran 1969, Photo 60; Esse 1991, 107–109), including Tel Te’o (Greenberg 2001, Fig. 8.2, 14,); Tel Bet Yerah (e.g. Greenberg et al. 2006, Fig. 3.29, 6–7), Tel Dothan (Master et al. 2005, Fig. 6.9, 13) - all in the southern Levant, and Tell Umm el-Marra (Curvers and Schwartz 2002–2003, Fig. 2) and the 'Amuq, Phase G (Braidwood and Braidwood 1960: 287–288, Fig. 227), in the northern Levant.

Probably the most well-known find spot for vessels of this ware is in the cemetery at Abydos, in Egypt. Petrographic analysis of one LFPW juglet from Abydos showed that it belonged to a calcareous volcanic group that may derive from the Lower Galilee of Israel (Hartung et al. 2015, pp. 310-312, p. 323). It may be that most of the LFPW vessels were destined for Egyptian royals and elites and were produced only in small quantities, perhaps specifically for that market and perhaps for local elites.

One vessel, the lower portion of a juglet, of LFPW was analyzed in the context of a pilot petrographic study of 20 vessels from several of the tombs at Abydos (Hartung et al. 2015, pp. 310-312, Sample #12 from juglet T-W/71, Figs. 8 and 17:1). The vessel has a very pale brown surface (10 YR 8/4), and the section towards the inside is light grey. The surface was burnished with very fine strokes in a vertical direction. The interior appears to have received a fine smoothing with the fingers in a horizontal direction. The fine clay consists of clearly visible limestone and small stones of whitish, grayish, and dark color. Petrographically, this vessel belongs to a calcareous volcanic group that may derive from the lower Galilee of Israel (Hartung et al. 2015, p. 323; Mary Ownby, personal study).

Abydos Ware

Abydos (Egypt/Middle Egypt)

Jericho, Tell es-Sultan (Israel-Palestinian Authority/Jordan Valley)

Tell Dothan (Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands)