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Red Lustrous Wheelmade ware: analysis of organic residues in Late Bronze Age trade and storage vessels from the eastern Mediterranean
Steele, Valerie J. Stern, Ben
Steele, Valerie J.
Stern, Ben
Publication Date
2017-12
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© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
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16/06/2017
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Abstract
Transport and storage vessels in Red Lustrous Wheelmade ware (RLWm ware) were traded across a large area of
the eastern Mediterranean for approximately 300 years (c. 1500–1200 BCE) during the Late Bronze Age
(c.1600–1000 BCE). The extreme consistency of the ceramic, in form, fabric, chemistry and mineralogy, points to
a single production source for the ware, which, although no kiln sites have been identified, is generally accepted
to have been on Cyprus. The aim of this study was to determine whether organic residues were present in this
very fine, dense ware, and to characterise the contents of RLWm ware vessels from different sites, contexts and
periods, and of different forms, to improve our understanding of the trade in this ceramic type. To that end, 101
RLWm ware sherds, together with three visible residues, were examined from sites in Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt and
Syria. Residues were identified in more than half of the samples, indicating that organic material is absorbed into
and preserved in this very fine fabric. Four commodities were identified: fat (probably plant oil), which in four
residues was identified further as castor oil; beeswax; bitumen; and Pinaceae spp. resin. The commodities were
found alone or, occasionally, one of the latter three was combined with the fat or oil. Fatty material was the only
commodity present at all sites and its wide distribution may indicate that generally the vessels were used for a
mixture or mixtures based on plant oils, in some cases containing castor oil. It was impossible to determine
whether the beeswax, bitumen and resin formed part of this mixture or represented post-firing treatments of the
ceramic to make it less porous. The identification of more than one type of residue indicates that RLWm ware
vessels did not always contain the same commodity. No significant correlation could be detected between the
vessel forms, and the dating of many of the sherds was not precise enough to reveal any variation through time.
The type of residue present did vary depending on the geographical location of its final use. Beeswax was, with
two exceptions, only present in samples from Turkey, while bitumen was found exclusively in samples from
Cypriot sites. The occurrence of at least one example of every commodity in the samples from Cyprus is consistent
with the theory that this ware was manufactured on Cyprus, and indicates that the vessels could also have
been filled and exported from there. The variation in content of the vessels found in different geographical areas
could highlight a special trading relationship between the Hittite heartland in Turkey and the Cypriot potters
who produced the ware, and a possible trade in bitumen as a raw material between the north Syrian coastal area
of Ugarit and Cyprus.
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Citation
Steele VJ and Stern B (2017) Red Lustrous Wheelmade ware: analysis of organic residues in Late Bronze Age trade and storage vessels from the eastern Mediterranean. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 16: 641-657.
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