General Information

This is the standard ware of the Iron Age in Cilicia. It comprises transport, storage, consumption and serving vessels with a plain or self-slipped surface. The vessels were produced at multiple production centers in Cilicia from local clay sources. The Cilician pottery production is attested by findings in kilns at Tarsus-Gözlükule, Kilise Tepe and Kinet Höyük. The clay is probably mostly untempered and contains the multicolored mineral inclusions from the local alluvial clay deposits. In the 8th century the ratio of levigated, fine fabric for small and thin-walled vessels increases. Most vessels have a plain or self-slipped/wet-smoothed surface, at times a slip of a contrasting color can be determined. The development of shapes is influenced by Cypriot pottery, possibly transmitted through the import and assimilation of mostly painted wares from the neighboring island (see Cypro-Cilician Painted Wares).

Kitchen Ware, Cilician Buff, Cilician White (Hanfmann 1963)

Sirkeli Höyük (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)