Work

Qurayyah Painted Ware Outside the Hejaz: Evidence of a Community of Practice in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages?

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Summary Qurayyah Painted Ware (QPW) is the most solid evidence of contacts between the Hejaz and the southern Levant in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages. However, even after decades of research, there is still much uncertainty regarding the chronology of these contacts and their nature. Here, we present an exceptionally rich collection of QPW fragments documented recently in the copper smelting sites of the Timna Valley. We argue that the distribution of this painted ware in the southern Levant extended from the early thirteenth to ninth centuries BC and that its prominent presence in industrial contexts in the Aravah Valley is related to the transmission of metallurgical ‘know‐how’ from the Hejaz, which included rituals in which QPW vessels took part. While the original exchange probably involved craftspeople from the Hejaz in the Aravah's metalworking, the continuous use of QPW throughout several centuries in the southern Levant is best explained as a reflection of an enduring community of practice of the local populations with the metalworkers of the Hejaz.

Source: Oxford Journal of Archaeology

DOI: 10.1111/ojoa.12307

Authors: Assaf Kleiman, Sabine Kleiman, Erez Ben‐Yosef

Institution: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Language: English

Topic: Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

Subfield: Archeology

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,760

Funder: Tel Aviv University