DECODING DESIGNS: THE LATE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C. POTTERY FROM JEBEL QAᶜAQIR (ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY, ISRAEL, BRONZE AGE, CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY).

Abstract

The late third millennium B.C. in Israel until recently was known by funerary deposits only. At Jebel Qaᶜaqir, the domestic and funerary remains provide an unprecedented assemblage and permit a reassessment of Early Bronze IV society and events culminating in the collapse of the Early Bronze III urban centers. Historically, pottery studies have focused on chronological issues. After reviewing the history of ceramic analysis in Israel for the past one hundred years, the Jebel Qaᶜaqir collection is presented. Variation in the manufacturing technique and incised patterns are described in detail for the purpose of identifying the work of individual potters. Ethnoarchaeological research of pottery production, especially the Filipino potters of Paradijon, provide the model for this analysis. The nature of the late third millennium B.C. pastoral nomadic society is examined in terms of subsistence strategies and settlement distribution. Inferences regarding social organization drawn from mortuary practices, settlement types and organization of labor challenge the idea that an egalitarian society persisted. Finally, these results provide a new perspective on the events following the collapse of the third millennium B.C. urban centers and the succeeding era of a non-sedentary lifestyle in Israel. The nomadic pastoralists are considered in their regional setting as an integral, indigenous part of Early Bronze Age society. Rather than viewing the pastoralists as a new phenomenon, they are considered as an ever-present characteristic of the urban hinterland.