Plain Pottery Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East

Production, Use, and Social Significance

Claudia Glatz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781629580913
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315422558
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: Social Sciences

The evolution and proliferation of plain and predominantly wheel-made pottery presents a characteristic feature of the societies of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean since the fourth millennium B.C. This plain pottery has received little detailed archaeological attention in comparison to aesthetically more pleasing and chronologically sensitive decorated traditions. Yet, their simplicity and standardization suggest they are products of craft specialists, the result of high-volume production, and therefore important in understanding the social systems in early complex societies. This volume-reevaluates the role and significance of plain pottery traditions from both historically specific perspectives and from a comparative point of view;-examines the uses and functions of this pottery in relation to social negotiation and group identity formation;-helps scholars understand cross-regional similarities in development and use.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction: Plain and Simple? Another Look at Plain Pottery Traditions in Early Complex Societies
• 2. The Economic Implications of Patterns of Ceramic Vessel Similarity in Ancient Egypt
• 3. Cultural Transmission, Migration and Plain Wheelmade Pottery in the Middle Bronze Age II Southern Levant
• 4. Colonial Cups? The Minoan Plain Handleless Cup as Icon and Index
• 5. Plain Wares and Urban Identities in Late Bronze Age Cyprus
• 6. Conspicuous Consumption of Inconspicuous Pottery: The Case of the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant
• 7. The Evolution of Plain Ware Ceramics at the Regional Capital of Alalakh in the 2nd Millennium BC
• 8. Plain Pots, Festivals and Feasting in Late Bronze Age Anatolia
• 9. Ceramic Consumption and Social Context at Middle and Neo-Assyrian Dur-Katlimmu
• Index
• About the Authors