Archaeometric approaches to Aegean-style pottery : three case studies from Late Bronze Age Cyprus and the southern Levant
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This project offers a technological and analytical study of Aegean-style pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean from the terminal phase of the Late Bronze Age (13th-12th centuries BCE), a tumultuous archaeological phase marked by the appearance and disappearance of myriad cultural groups (e.g., the Mycenaeans, Hittites, and Philistines, among others). It identifies varied technological signatures and links these to artisans of different cultural and geographical backgrounds, in two key zones of interaction from this phase: Eastern Cyprus and the Central Jordan Valley. Assemblages of Aegean-style pottery from the sites of Enkomi along with Beth Shean and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh have been chosen for targeted study representative of these two zones. In practical terms, this project takes a multiscalar view towards these assemblages, sites, and regions, in effect, offering a cross-comparison. The goal is to enrich understanding of each of these regions by exploring the role played by Aegean pottery and the craftspeople who adopted and imitated it. The method used here differs from past approaches by applying archaeometric and quantification-based methods, specifically neutron activation analysis (NAA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thin-section petrography, in order to describe the decisions made by the potter(s) out of a range of choices available to them. This project uses these techniques to gather information on three specific technical decisions: raw materials selection; processes of producing ceramic fabrics; pyrotechnology. The decisions reflected by these learned skillsets are useful for identifying the origin of the craftspeople and/or the craft.
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Ph. D.