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The Date and Origin of Black-on-Red Ware: The View from Megiddo

October 2019 (123.4)
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The Date and Origin of Black-on-Red Ware: The View from Megiddo

123.4
Assaf Kleiman
Alexander Fantalkin
Hans Mommsen
Israel Finkelstein
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Our study of Black-on-Red sherds found in well-stratified Iron IIA contexts at Megiddo shows that the earliest examples of this ware appear in an early stage of the Late Iron IIA, radiocarbon dated to the late 10th to early ninth century B.C.E. An archaeometric analysis of 10 sherds reveals that they were manufactured in Cyprus, meaning that Black-on-Red vessels were produced on the island as early as ca. 900 B.C.E. This makes Gjerstad’s theory regarding the “Levantine Phase” in the production history of this ware obsolete. It is noteworthy that Black-on-Red vessels of Type IV (dated to the eighth and early seventh centuries B.C.E. based on stylistic considerations) are present in secure contexts in levels Q-5 and Q-4 at Megiddo, radiocarbon dated to the late 10th and ninth centuries B.C.E.

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Iron Age
Pottery
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The Date and Origin of Black-on-Red Ware: The View from Megiddo

By Assaf Kleiman, Alexander Fantalkin, Hans Mommsen, and Israel Finkelstein

American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 123, No. 4 (October 2019), pp. 531–555

DOI: 10.3764/aja.123.4.0531

© 2019 Archaeological Institute of America

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