General Information

Red Lustrous Wheel-made wares (RLW) comprise a distinctive array of vessels produced from high quality red clay and finished with a polished red surface. RLW has a wide distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean, including central Anatolia, Cilicia, Cyprus, the Levantne coast, and Egypt, suggesting an array of possible cultural, commercial, and political connections. Potters made various forms in this ware, including bowls, jars, jugs, spindle bottles, flasks, and arm-shaped vessels.

The consistent character of RLW vessels throughout this broad area complicates the identification of its provenance, and has made it the subject of numerous archaeological and archaeometric studies. Several geographic areas have been proposed as a possible production place: Syria (Gjerstad, 1926; Sjöqvist, 1940; Merrillees, 1963); Cyprus (Åström, 1972; Eriksson, 1993; Grave et al., 2014), Anatolia (Courtois and Courtois, 1978; Courtois, 1979; Müller-Karpe, 1988; Kozal, 2015), and Egypt. Archaeometric investigations on RLW sherds from various sites from Anatolia, Cyprus, and Egypt revealed a homogeneous chemical and petrographic composition, suggesting that vessels were most probably produced from a single clay source in a single production center or region (Knappett, 2000; Knappett et al., 2005; Knappett and Kilikoglou, 2007a; Schubert and Kozal, 2007). Two regions were thought to be the possible origin: 1) the Kyrenia region on the northern coast of Cyprus; 2) and  the region between Aydıncık and Anamur on the southern coast of Anatolia (Knappett et al. (2005). Another archaeometric study on RLW samples from Boğazköy and Cyprus including local clay samples from Cyprus, proposed the Polis area in southwestern Cyprus, as the possible origin (Grave et al. (2014). 

Further research in Anatolia, especially in Boğazköy and Kilise Tepe, revealed new evidence (Seeher, 2002; Kozal, 2015). Mielke (2007) studied RLW and its contexts within Hittite sites, and dated its first appearance in Central Anatolia c. 1500 BCE. Re-evaluation of this material, along with an array of new RLW forms from Kilise Tepe level III (c. 1500–1300 BCE), allowed Kozal (2015) to demonstrate that RLW was likely an Anatolian ware produced in Rough Cilicia. All of the known forms of RLW appear at Kilise Tepe, along with several new forms, thus making this area the one with the greatest known variety of shapes. Furthermore, these RLW forms are part of an Anatolian local shape repertoire with roots already in the Middle Bronze Age and, in some cases, in the Early Bronze Age. Thus it now seems that the production of RLW should be located in Rough Cilicia in southern Anatolia.*

*The above was taken from Kibaroğlu et al. 2019: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X18307661?via%3Dihub

RLW is a wheel-made ware produced from a very fine clay, along with some coarser variations. It is characterized by a red fabric throughout, self-slip, and a lustrous external surface due to a polishing surface treatment.

Hala Sultan Tekke, Dromolaxia Vizatzia (Cyprus/Eastern coast)

Tell Tweini (Syria/Coast/An-Nusayriah Mountains)

Alalakh, Tel Atchana (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)

Boğazköy (Turkey/Central)

Kilise Tepe (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)

Soli Höyük, Pompeiopolis (Turkey/Eastern Mediterranean)