Pottery craft in the early urban world: two EB IVA traditions in focus in Tell Mishrifeh-Qatna, Hypogeum IV (Syria)

Abstract

Tell Mishrifeh, ancient Qatna, is a prominent Syrian site founded c. 2700–2600 BCE during the urbanization of inner Syria in the Early Bronze Age (EB). Hypogeum IV was one of the first EB IV (2500–2000 BCE) structures excavated in the 1920s. This collective tomb yielded 292 vessels, mostly complete, 127 of which are preserved in the Musée du Louvre (France). This paper provides updated data on this exceptional pottery set that has not been studied since its discovery and first publication in 1935. The typo-chronological examination indicates an EB IVA (2500–2250 BCE) assemblage dominated by drinking vessels. Technology and petrography reveal the co-existence of two pottery traditions: similar shapes are produced with different techniques (chaînes opératoires) and raw materials. Comparisons demonstrate that they correspond to distinct regional traditions from the Upper Orontes and Syrian steppe — Grey ware and the Middle Orontes Valley — calcareous ware. This study offers new insights into pottery production and diffusion in the EB IVA urban centres of inner Syria, the joint presence of distinct traditions at Tell Mishrifeh-Qatna evidencing overlapping regional pottery cultures.

Keywords:

• Levant
• Syria
• Early Bronze Age
• ceramic analysis
• technology
• petrography

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by HeSam Université, the Ecole Doctorale d’Archéologie (ED 112) of Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the CNRS research laboratory UMR 7041 ArScAn – VEPMO. I am very grateful to Sophie Cluzan, curator in chief at the Musée du Louvre, Department of Oriental Antiquities, who made this research possible and accepted the sampling for petrographic analysis. I would also like to thank Pr. Pascal Butterlin, Dr Sophie Méry and the late Dr Jean-Paul Thalmann for supervising my PhD dissertation, from which I wrote this paper. The petrographic analyses were performed at the MAPS platform, MSH Mondes (UAR 3225), Nanterre, France. Final thanks go to the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and constructive comments to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Revised chronology of the 3rd millennium in the ancient Near East; ECL: Early Central Levant; ENL: Early Northern Levant. See online chronological table: http://www.arcane.uni-tuebingen.de/EA-EM-EL_phasing_v5-4-6.pdf.