This ware is a product of a vibrant ceramic industry that arose in southern Idumea in the 3rd c. BCE. The region's major city and market center, Maresha/Marisa, was surrounded by a dense cluster of villages and rural farmsteads. These communities generated demand for ceramic vessels serving a range of utilitarian uses. Local potters met by this demand by producing a wide array of shapes, including vessels for table use, such as small bowls, table jugs, and kraters as well as vessels for practical household needs, including water pitchers, flasks and juglets, large bowls for mixing and grinding foodstuffs, and even large storage jars.
Idumean Hellenistic ch...
Basins, jar, moratorium, and large jug of Idumean Hellenistic chalk-flecked semi-fine ware from Amazia
Table and small storage vessels of Idumean Hellenistic chalk-flecked semi-fine ware from Amazia
Very hard-fired, clean, dense fabric, ranging in color from dull light brown to bright medium brown or pink-brown. The fabric is marked by chalk inclusions. On vessels that are smaller and thinner-walled, the inclusions are generally smaller, and usually appear breaking out on the surface but less often in section. On vessels that are larger and/or thicker-walled, the chalk bits are also often more sizable and appear on the surfaces as well as in the section. The fabric is smooth to the to...
