1st Graduate Forum for Mediterranean Archaeology: Ceramic Technology and Provenance in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean

This session of the 1st Graduate Forum for Mediterranean Archaeology presents five doctoral projects on ceramic technology, provenance and petrography across the eastern Mediterranean, two of which examine material from Cyprus.

The first speaker, Sarah from University College London, presents an archaeometric study of Early Bronze Age III/IV and Early Iron Age ceramics from copper-producing sites in the Faynan district of southern Jordan, sampled at the University of California San Diego. Combining macroscopic examination, thin-section petrography and portable XRF on powdered samples from Khirbat Hamra Ifdan and Khirbat al-Jariya, she identifies quartz-tempered, shale-tempered and carbonate-rich fabrics and compares their geochemical groupings across the two periods.

Chase Minos of the Cyprus Institute examines ceramic technology in Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age, from Late Cypriot IA to IIB (c. 1675 to 1340 BCE), focusing on how the introduction of the potter's wheel affected raw material selection and paste preparation at Enkomi and the inland cluster of Ayios Sozomenos in the Yialias valley. Reviewing past excavations by Porphyrios Dikaios and Claude Schaeffer at Enkomi and by Despo Pilides at Ayios Sozomenos, as well as fabric classifications by Lindy Crewe, he outlines a study of Plain White and Red and Black Slip handmade and wheelmade wares combining macroscopic traces, petrography, XRF, scanning electron microscopy, clay sampling along the Pedieos and Yialias rivers, and experimental firing.

Timothée Ogier presents a study of Middle Bronze Age to Early Iron Age cooking wares from the tell of Toumba Thessalonikis in central Macedonia. Drawing on samples from three Late Bronze Age buildings, he uses the chaîne opératoire approach, petrography and use-wear traces such as soot patterns to reconstruct coiling techniques, local igneous and quartzitic fabrics, and cooking methods.

Christiana Kelepeshi presents petrographic and ICP-OES/ICP-MS geochemical results on around 100 tableware samples from Sagalassos in southwest Asia Minor, spanning the Hellenistic to early medieval periods. Using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis, she identifies eight clusters across Hellenistic grey and colour-coated wares, Sagalassos Red Slip Ware, imported Eastern Sigillata A and early Byzantine wares, showing continuous exploitation of local clays alongside changes in levigation and firing.

Theodoros Lambropoulos of the University of Cyprus presents a petrographic study of 75 seventh-century cooking-pot samples from four church complexes in southern Cyprus: Katalymata ton Plakoton at Akrotiri, Ayioi Pente at Yeroskipou, Kalavasos-Kopetra and Panagia Kofinou. He distinguishes handmade and slow-wheel casseroles made from local Troodos ophiolitic and red mudstone clays from wheel-thrown globular Diorios-type cooking pots, arguing that a prevalent quartz-rich sand-tempered fabric in the latter points to imports from the Levantine coast alongside local Cypriot production. A joint question-and-answer session follows.