{ "version": "44.2.0", "generated": "2026-09-23", "profiles": [ { "id": "lb-iron-transition", "title": "Late Bronze → Iron I ceramic transition", "period": "c. 1200–1130 BCE", "region": "Southern Levant", "focus": "horizon transition", "signal": "Late Bronze Canaanite repertoires do not vanish everywhere at once; early Iron I assemblages show regional persistence, rupture and hybridization.", "observations": [ "Track disappearance/continuity of Late Bronze forms by stratified locus.", "Treat imported Aegean-style vessels and local Canaanite forms as coexisting assemblage components." ], "boundary": "Ceramic change documents material practice; it cannot by itself identify “Sea Peoples” or a single collapse mechanism.", "siteIds": [ "hazor", "megiddo", "gezer" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Late Bronze Iron I pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "philistine-monochrome", "title": "Philistine I / Monochrome horizon", "period": "late 12th century BCE", "region": "Southern Coastal Plain", "focus": "decorated ware", "signal": "Aegean-derived monochrome pottery marks an early Iron I coastal assemblage horizon at major Philistine sites.", "observations": [ "Bell-shaped bowls and related forms are diagnostic within an assemblage.", "Its start date and whether a long Monochrome-only phase existed remain debated." ], "boundary": "Use as a regional ceramic horizon, not as proof that every user or maker was ethnically Philistine.", "siteIds": [ "ashkelon" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Philistine settlement pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "phil-monochrome-lcp", "phil-chronology-2018", "ashkelon-iron1" ] }, { "id": "philistine-bichrome", "title": "Philistine II / Bichrome horizon", "period": "late 12th–11th centuries BCE", "region": "Philistia and neighboring regions", "focus": "decorated ware", "signal": "Bichrome pottery develops from the earlier coastal repertoire and combines Aegean, Canaanite, Cypriot and Egyptian elements.", "observations": [ "Distribution expands beyond the Philistine core.", "Site-specific first-appearance dates need not be identical." ], "boundary": "Bichrome presence indicates contact/consumption of a cultural ceramic tradition, not automatic political control.", "siteIds": [ "megiddo", "gezer" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Philistine Bichrome" ], "sourceIds": [ "phil-bichrome-lcp", "megiddo-bichrome-2022" ] }, { "id": "collared-rim-pithoi", "title": "Collared-rim pithoi in the Iron I highlands", "period": "Iron I", "region": "Central Highlands", "focus": "storage jar type", "signal": "Large collared-rim storage jars are common in many early highland settlements and are useful for assemblage comparison.", "observations": [ "Their distribution extends beyond any simple one-ethnicity boundary.", "Function and regional economy are as important as style." ], "boundary": "Do not use a collared-rim jar as a one-object ethnic test for “Israelite.”", "siteIds": [ "shiloh", "shechem" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "highland settlement" ], "sourceIds": [ "collared-rim-1996" ] }, { "id": "iron-iia-transition", "title": "Iron I → Iron IIA pottery transition", "period": "10th–9th centuries BCE, model-dependent", "region": "Judah / Israel", "focus": "chronological horizon", "signal": "Changes in rims, cooking pots, storage jars and fine wares underpin debates over the start of Iron IIA.", "observations": [ "Absolute placement depends on radiocarbon and stratified destruction/occupation sequences.", "Different chronological models shift historical attribution of the same architecture." ], "boundary": "Pottery can sequence buildings without naming Solomon, David or an Omride builder.", "siteIds": [ "gezer", "megiddo", "khirbet-qeiyafa" ], "artifactIds": [ "khirbet-qeiyafa-ostracon" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Gezer chronology" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "qeiyafa-assemblage", "title": "Khirbet Qeiyafa Iron IIA ceramic assemblage", "period": "late 11th–early 10th century BCE range", "region": "Shephelah", "focus": "site assemblage", "signal": "The Qeiyafa assemblage combines local Iron Age forms with a short occupation sequence useful for early Iron IIA comparisons.", "observations": [ "Assemblage composition matters more than a single form.", "Imported and local vessels should be separated analytically." ], "boundary": "The ceramic horizon constrains occupation; political identity and biblical identification require additional evidence.", "siteIds": [ "khirbet-qeiyafa" ], "artifactIds": [ "khirbet-qeiyafa-ostracon" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Qeiyafa radiocarbon" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "gezer-iron-assemblages", "title": "Gezer Iron I–II ceramic sequence", "period": "12th–8th centuries BCE", "region": "Shephelah", "focus": "site sequence", "signal": "Gezer offers a long stratified ceramic ladder that can be checked against radiocarbon and architectural phases.", "observations": [ "Philistine Bichrome appears within a non-core Philistine site sequence.", "Iron IIA and IIB assemblages provide cross-site chronological anchors." ], "boundary": "A ceramic phase is not a historical king’s reign unless independently anchored.", "siteIds": [ "gezer" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Gezer radiocarbon" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "megiddo-iron-assemblages", "title": "Megiddo Iron Age ceramic ladder", "period": "12th–8th centuries BCE", "region": "Jezreel Valley", "focus": "site sequence", "signal": "Megiddo’s pottery sequence is central to high/low chronology debates and to dating its monumental strata.", "observations": [ "First appearance of imported/Philistine-related pottery can differ from coastal sites.", "Ceramic phasing must be integrated with stratigraphy and radiocarbon." ], "boundary": "Do not date a gate or palace by a biblical reign solely because its pottery fits a broad Iron IIA range.", "siteIds": [ "megiddo" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Megiddo chronology" ], "sourceIds": [ "megiddo-bichrome-2022" ] }, { "id": "lmlk-jars", "title": "LMLK stamped storage-jar system", "period": "late 8th century BCE", "region": "Judah", "focus": "administrative storage assemblage", "signal": "Stamped storage jars form one of the most recognizable late-Iron-II administrative ceramic systems in Judah.", "observations": [ "Stamp classes and jar forms can be phased separately.", "Distribution is strongest in Judahite administrative centers and is especially relevant to the Assyrian crisis horizon." ], "boundary": "LMLK jars show administration and distribution; they do not by themselves prove one specific royal reform or campaign mechanism.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem", "lachish" ], "artifactIds": [ "lmlk-seals" ], "scienceQueries": [ "LMLK petrography" ], "sourceIds": [ "lmlk-ceramic-context" ] }, { "id": "lachish-ii-iii", "title": "Lachish Levels III–II ceramic succession", "period": "late 8th–early 6th centuries BCE", "region": "Judah / Shephelah", "focus": "destruction-sequence assemblage", "signal": "The ceramic distinction between Level III and later Level II helps separate the 701 BCE Assyrian destruction horizon from the final Judahite city destroyed in the Babylonian period.", "observations": [ "Closed destruction assemblages are stronger chronological controls than mixed fills.", "Continuity and change after 701 BCE can be tracked in domestic/storage forms." ], "boundary": "The pottery helps distinguish phases; the historical attacker is established through independent historical and archaeological evidence.", "siteIds": [ "lachish" ], "artifactIds": [ "lachish-siege-ramp", "lachish-reliefs" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Lachish chronology" ], "sourceIds": [ "lachish-fourth-expedition-2021" ] }, { "id": "arad-ostraca-jars", "title": "Arad fortress pottery and ostraca contexts", "period": "8th–early 6th centuries BCE", "region": "Negev / Judah", "focus": "fortress assemblage", "signal": "Ceramics provide the phase framework within which the Arad ostraca and fortress rebuilds are interpreted.", "observations": [ "Pottery from sealed rooms can date administrative texts contextually.", "Residual material in fills must be separated from use deposits." ], "boundary": "The ceramic date belongs first to the archaeological locus; the text’s historical interpretation is a second step.", "siteIds": [ "arad" ], "artifactIds": [ "arad-ostraca" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Arad" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "samaria-storage-tableware", "title": "Samaria palace and administrative ceramics", "period": "9th–8th centuries BCE", "region": "Central Israel", "focus": "elite/administrative assemblage", "signal": "Palatial and administrative pottery complements the Samaria ostraca and architecture by showing storage, serving and consumption patterns.", "observations": [ "Form frequencies can distinguish elite, administrative and household contexts.", "Imported wares indicate connectivity but require provenance work for origin." ], "boundary": "Palatial/administrative pottery informs chronology, storage and consumption. It does not identify individual royal occupants, and imported styles require independent provenance analysis before an origin is assigned.", "siteIds": [ "samaria" ], "artifactIds": [ "samaria-ostraca" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Samaria pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "v59-samaria-buildings-1942", "v59-samaria-tappy-2001" ] }, { "id": "babylonian-persian-transition", "title": "Late Iron II → Persian-period ceramic transition", "period": "6th–5th centuries BCE", "region": "Judah / Benjamin", "focus": "post-destruction transition", "signal": "Pottery is crucial for identifying occupation continuity, contraction and reorganization after 586 BCE.", "observations": [ "Assemblages can distinguish abandoned, reduced and continuously occupied zones.", "Persian-period forms often overlap with late Iron traditions." ], "boundary": "Ceramic continuity means people remained or returned to a place; it does not map exact population totals or named returnees.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem", "lachish" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Persian Yehud settlement" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "persian-yehud", "title": "Persian Yehud ceramic assemblages", "period": "5th–4th centuries BCE", "region": "Yehud", "focus": "regional assemblage", "signal": "Persian-period Judaean assemblages are a key material baseline for the province’s settlement and economy.", "observations": [ "Local coarse wares coexist with imported or coastal traditions.", "Changes in storage jars and table wares can track administrative and market links." ], "boundary": "Pottery can define a provincial archaeological horizon without proving the date of a specific biblical composition or reform.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Persian Yehud" ], "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "hellenistic-imports", "title": "Hellenistic fine wares and eastern Mediterranean connectivity", "period": "3rd–1st centuries BCE", "region": "Levant", "focus": "import/consumption assemblage", "signal": "Black-slipped, red-slipped and other regional/imported table wares reveal participation in Hellenistic exchange networks.", "observations": [ "Imported fine wares should be quantified against local coarse wares.", "An imported vessel demonstrates exchange or mobility, not the ethnicity of the household." ], "boundary": "Consumption of Hellenistic pottery does not by itself establish “Hellenization” of identity or belief.", "siteIds": [], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Hellenistic trade" ], "sourceIds": [ "kedesh-lcp" ] }, { "id": "galilee-handmade-storage", "title": "Hellenistic Galilean handmade storage jars", "period": "late 3rd–mid 2nd centuries BCE", "region": "Galilee / Golan", "focus": "storage technology", "signal": "Very large handmade storage jars reflect agricultural storage and potentially organized grain supply in Hellenistic Galilee.", "observations": [ "Locally available clays and handmade production create substantial vessel-to-vessel variation.", "Their restricted chronological window makes them useful regional markers." ], "boundary": "Large storage capacity can suggest surplus handling but does not yield an exact population estimate.", "siteIds": [ "tel-dan" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Galilee settlement" ], "sourceIds": [ "galilee-handmade-lcp" ] }, { "id": "early-roman-galilee-cooking", "title": "Early Roman Galilee cooking-ware networks", "period": "1st century BCE–1st century CE", "region": "Galilee / Golan", "focus": "cooking ware", "signal": "Regional cooking wares help reconstruct household foodways and market supply around the Sea of Galilee.", "observations": [ "Basaltic inclusions and distribution patterns indicate regional production/supply zones.", "Different valleys can participate in different pottery markets." ], "boundary": "Cooking-ware distribution is social-economic evidence; it is not a direct map of religious or ethnic boundaries.", "siteIds": [ "tel-dan" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Galilee Early Roman" ], "sourceIds": [ "galilee-basalt-lcp", "yodefat-lcp" ] }, { "id": "early-roman-judean-painted", "title": "Judaean Early Roman Painted Ware", "period": "1st century CE", "region": "Judaea / Jerusalem", "focus": "table ware", "signal": "Distinctive painted bowls and small vessels add a specifically Judaean fine-ware component to Early Roman assemblages.", "observations": [ "Decorative motifs and thin-walled forms are useful for assemblage comparison.", "Production and distribution should be separated from household identity." ], "boundary": "A Judaean ware label denotes archaeological distribution/production, not the religion of every consumer.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Jerusalem Early Roman" ], "sourceIds": [ "jpw-lcp" ] }, { "id": "knife-pared-lamps", "title": "Wheel-made knife-pared “Herodian” lamps", "period": "late 1st century BCE–1st century CE and later survivals", "region": "Judaea / Galilee", "focus": "lamp typology", "signal": "Plain wheel-made lamps with knife-pared nozzles are common in late Second Temple assemblages.", "observations": [ "The traditional label “Herodian” is not a reign-length date.", "Distribution includes Jewish contexts but is not exclusively Jewish." ], "boundary": "Do not use one lamp to identify household ethnicity, religion, or an exact Gospel-era year.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Early Roman lamps" ], "sourceIds": [ "herodian-lamps-lcp" ] }, { "id": "qumran-jars", "title": "Qumran cylindrical jars and site assemblage", "period": "late Hellenistic–Early Roman", "region": "Dead Sea / Qumran", "focus": "storage/container assemblage", "signal": "Tall cylindrical jars are strongly associated in modern scholarship with Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery context, but jar form alone does not prove manuscript use.", "observations": [ "Different jars at the site served storage and household functions.", "Cave and settlement assemblages need contextual separation." ], "boundary": "A “scroll jar” label is functional interpretation, not proof that every jar stored manuscripts.", "siteIds": [ "qumran" ], "artifactIds": [ "biblical-dead-sea-scrolls", "great-isaiah-scroll" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Qumran pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "herodian-lamps-lcp" ] }, { "id": "jerusalem-70-destruction", "title": "Jerusalem ceramic horizon around 70 CE", "period": "mid–late 1st century CE", "region": "Jerusalem", "focus": "destruction/abandonment assemblage", "signal": "Sealed destruction and abandonment deposits around the First Jewish Revolt can terminate earlier vessel types and contextualize the city’s transformation.", "observations": [ "Coin and ceramic termini should be integrated rather than treated independently.", "Residual vessels can survive in destruction fills." ], "boundary": "A destruction assemblage establishes a terminal phase; individual rooms and objects still require locus-level interpretation.", "siteIds": [ "jerusalem" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Jerusalem 70 CE destruction" ], "sourceIds": [ "jpw-lcp", "herodian-lamps-lcp" ] }, { "id": "galilee-67-war", "title": "Yodefat and Galilee: pottery across the 67 CE war horizon", "period": "1st century CE", "region": "Galilee", "focus": "siege/destruction assemblage", "signal": "Yodefat provides a useful Early Roman ceramic assemblage tied to a historically constrained siege horizon.", "observations": [ "Local and imported wares document pre-siege market connections.", "Destruction/abandonment contexts can help close vessel-use ranges." ], "boundary": "A historically dated siege can anchor an assemblage; the pottery does not independently verify every literary detail of the siege.", "siteIds": [], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Galilee revolt" ], "sourceIds": [ "yodefat-lcp" ] }, { "id": "jericho-area-g-late-bronze", "title": "Jericho Area G / Middle Building Late Bronze ceramic horizon", "period": "15th century BCE · Sultan Va / Late Bronze I", "region": "Jordan Valley", "focus": "stratified local + Cypriot diagnostic assemblage", "signal": "Ceramics from rooms associated with the Spring Hill Middle Building include a Cypriot White Slip II milk-bowl fragment, two carinated bowls and a pointed bowl handle; together they support a fifteenth-century BCE placement for this local horizon.", "observations": [ "White Slip II provides an eastern-Mediterranean diagnostic import within the local Middle Building context.", "The assemblage dates a specific Area G building horizon; it is not a site-wide ceramic terminus for every Late Bronze deposit at Jericho." ], "boundary": "The ceramic assemblage supports the local Sultan Va/LB I chronology. It does not independently date a Joshua destruction, prove a city-wide event, or erase the later Sultan Vb/LB II occupation in the updated site periodization.", "siteIds": [ "jericho" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Jericho Late Bronze pottery", "White Slip II Jericho" ], "sourceIds": [ "nigro-yasine-jericho-2024" ] }, { "id": "hazor-lower-city-h-lbii", "title": "Hazor Lower City Area H — Late Bronze II ceramic/activity horizon", "period": "Late Bronze II · Strata 1B–1A", "region": "Upper Galilee", "focus": "local temple-adjacent assemblage and phase discrimination", "signal": "Area H1/H2 preserves LB II bowls, kraters, cooking pots, pithoi, juglets, lamps, chalice fragments and miniature vessels in drainage, courtyard and surface contexts; ceramic similarity across the latest phases limits how confidently pottery alone can separate 1B from 1A.", "observations": [ "Miniature vessels cluster in the Stratum 1B drainage-channel context near the temple approach.", "Stratum 1A preserves later pottery clusters and living surfaces but little architecture in H1.", "The local assemblage is useful for occupation and activity history, but phase assignment depends on stratigraphic context rather than typology alone." ], "boundary": "Ceramics document Late Bronze II activity in Area H but do not independently choose between competing citywide 1B/1A destruction scenarios or identify the destroyer.", "siteIds": [ "hazor" ], "artifactIds": [ "hazor-late-bronze-destruction" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Hazor pottery", "Hazor Lower City" ], "sourceIds": [ "hazor-lower-city-2026" ] }, { "id": "tel-rehov-iron-iia-assemblages", "title": "Tel Reḥov Strata VI–IV: Iron IIA ceramic ladder", "period": "10th–9th centuries BCE", "region": "Beth-Shean Valley", "focus": "stratified local/imported assemblages and cross-site seriation", "signal": "All three site-wide Iron IIA strata (VI–IV) produce substantial ceramic assemblages; Stratum VI differs in details while V–IV are closely related, providing a tightly radiocarbon-linked ceramic ladder for northern Israel.", "observations": [ "Strata VI, V and IV all belong within Iron IIA but are not ceramic duplicates; the sequence preserves gradual typological change rather than a single static “Iron IIA ware.”", "Rich Strata V–IV assemblages have close comparanda at Megiddo and other northern sites, which makes Tel Reḥov central to debates over the absolute placement of Iron IIA ceramic horizons.", "The final-report corpus includes local wares and imported Phoenician, Cypriot and Greek pottery, so trade and chronology should be read separately." ], "boundary": "Ceramic similarity correlates archaeological horizons; it does not by itself identify a dynasty, ethnic group, named king or historical destroyer.", "siteIds": [ "tel-rehov" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Rehov radiocarbon", "Tel Rehov petrography" ], "sourceIds": [ "rehov-pottery-vol4-2020", "rehov-radiocarbon-ladder-2005" ] }, { "id": "avaris-middle-bronze-hyksos-ceramic-sequence", "title": "Tell el-Dabʿa / Avaris: Middle Bronze–Hyksos ceramic phase ladder", "period": "Late Middle Kingdom–Hyksos–early New Kingdom", "region": "Eastern Nile Delta", "focus": "compound ceramic seriation and Egyptian–Levantine hybridization", "signal": "Stratified Egyptian, Levantine and locally hybrid ceramic repertoires are a principal tool for synchronizing Tell el-Dabʿa’s overlapping excavation areas and tracing the transformation from late Middle Kingdom settlement through Hyksos and early New Kingdom occupation.", "observations": [ "The master phase ladder is correlated across excavation areas partly by ceramic seriation rather than by one continuous trench.", "Tell el-Dabʿa XII documents Egyptian and Levantine ceramic traditions together through the Late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period.", "The Area F/II L81 deposit contains more than 35,000 diagnostic sherds and nearly 2,000 reconstructable vessels; most are local, with imports from Cyprus, the Levant, Upper Egypt and Nubia.", "Area H/VI ceramic study follows the late Hyksos-to-Early New Kingdom transition through more than 200,000 diagnostic sherds, showing changing proportions and styles rather than an instantaneous cultural replacement." ], "boundary": "Ceramic seriation is powerful for relative chronology and interaction networks, but style, import frequency and local imitation do not by themselves identify ethnicity, a named migration, Joseph, or the Israelites.", "siteIds": [ "avaris" ], "artifactIds": [ "avaris-site" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Tell el-Dabʿa Canaanite jars", "Avaris ceramic provenance", "Tell el-Yahudiyeh ware" ], "sourceIds": [ "avaris-aston-bietak-pottery-2004", "avaris-l81-ceramic-deposit", "avaris-hvi-ceramic-chronology" ] }, { "id": "ekron-iron-i-philistine-ceramic-sequence", "title": "Tel Miqne-Ekron Iron I Philistine ceramic development", "period": "12th–early 10th centuries BCE", "region": "Southern Coastal Plain / Philistia", "focus": "Field IV Lower Iron I ceramic seriation and production provenance", "signal": "Field IV Lower preserves a long Iron I sequence in which Philistine 1 / Mycenaean IIIC:1 traditions in Stratum VII give way to Philistine 2 / Bichrome traditions in Stratum VI and subsequent local developments through Strata V–IV.", "observations": [ "The final Field IV Lower report presents the site’s largest and most diverse Iron I ceramic assemblage, spanning roughly two centuries.", "Philistine 1 / Mycenaean IIIC:1 dominates the earliest Iron I horizon and is gradually replaced by Philistine 2 / Bichrome in later phases.", "Instrumental neutron activation analysis of 44 specimens showed that Aegean-style Mycenaean IIIC:1b pottery at Ekron was locally manufactured rather than simply imported from the Aegean." ], "boundary": "Ceramic style, typological links and local production demonstrate technological transmission, interaction and changing material practice. They do not by themselves define a homogeneous ethnic population, prove a single migration episode, or identify a named “Sea Peoples” group.", "siteIds": [ "tel-miqne-ekron" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Ekron Mycenaean IIIC", "Ekron ceramic provenance", "Philistine Bichrome" ], "sourceIds": [ "ekron-field-iv-iron-i-final-2016", "ekron-philistine-ceramics-2004", "ekron-pottery-naa-1986" ] }, { "id": "tel-dan-ironi-ceramic-network", "title": "Tel Dan Iron I ceramic sequence, local production and northern coastal exchange", "period": "12th–10th centuries BCE", "region": "Upper Jordan Valley / northern Levant", "focus": "local Iron I typology, decorated wares, container petrography and exchange networks", "signal": "The final Iron I report preserves a large stratified local sequence with mostly local vessels alongside small but meaningful Aegean/Philistine-, Cypriot- and Phoenician-style components and limited long-distance container imports.", "observations": [ "The final report provides a detailed local pottery typology from the Iron I strata.", "Aegean/Philistine- and Cypriot-style decorated vessels occur in small numbers and range from imports to locally made vessels with western stylistic features.", "Petrography of 21 containers found that most sampled jars, wavy-band pithoi and several flasks were produced at Dan or nearby, while a small number of flasks were imported from the Lebanese coast." ], "boundary": "Ceramic provenance and style reconstruct production, exchange and interaction. They do not by themselves assign tribal/ethnic identity, prove a single migration, or establish that every western-style vessel was imported.", "siteIds": [ "tel-dan" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Dan Iron I pottery", "Tel Dan petrography", "Phoenician Bichrome Dan" ], "sourceIds": [ "tel-dan-daniv-2019", "tel-dan-petrography-2019" ] }, { "id": "tel-moza-ironii-stratified-pottery", "title": "Tel Moẓa: stratified Iron II pottery from the settlement and temple horizon", "period": "10th–6th centuries BCE", "region": "Jerusalem corridor / Judah", "focus": "stratified Iron IIA–IIB assemblage and temple-context ceramics", "signal": "The published Moẓa pottery corpus is organized by period, stratum and selected loci, allowing the Iron II administrative settlement and temple precinct to be compared on a controlled ceramic sequence rather than by isolated type fossils.", "observations": [ "The IAA final report publishes Iron IIA and IIB pottery by selected loci and stratum, preserving the assemblage context used to define the site sequence.", "The temple courtyard’s cultic assemblage—including vessels found with figurines and other cult objects—belongs to the Iron IIA temple context rather than to an unproven Jerusalem-derived typology." ], "boundary": "Ceramic chronology constrains archaeological phases and exchange; it does not identify the temple’s deity, a royal founder, or the success/failure of a biblical centralization reform.", "siteIds": [ "tel-moza" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Moza pottery", "Iron IIA Judah ceramics", "Moza temple assemblage" ], "sourceIds": [ "v62-moza-iaa-2009", "kisilevitz-tel-moza-2015" ] }, { "id": "mount-gerizim-persian-precinct-pottery", "title": "Mount Gerizim: Persian–early Hellenistic sacred-precinct pottery", "period": "5th–early 2nd centuries BCE", "region": "Samaria / Mount Gerizim", "focus": "precinct chronology and cult-site assemblage", "signal": "Clean pre-Hellenistic loci in the sacred precinct yielded a characteristic Persian-period ceramic assemblage—juglets, flasks, cooking pots, kraters, bowls, flat-base lamps and imported Attic fragments—used together with coins and architecture to date the early precinct.", "observations": [ "Persian-period pottery occurs in rooms/courtyards of the early sacred precinct and beneath later Hellenistic rebuilding.", "The assemblage combines local utilitarian forms with limited imported Attic material, providing chronological and exchange context rather than a direct theological label." ], "boundary": "Pottery helps date use of the precinct. It does not by itself prove the exact form of a central temple building, identify a founder, or date the Samaritan–Judean split to a single year.", "siteIds": [ "mount-gerizim" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Mount Gerizim pottery", "Persian-period Samaria ceramics" ], "sourceIds": [ "gerizim-temple-model-2020", "arie-gerizim-revisiting" ] }, { "id": "shechem-field-xiii-late-bronze", "title": "Shechem Field XIII: Late Bronze I–IIB ceramic sequence", "period": "Late Bronze I–IIB", "region": "Central highlands / Tell Balata", "focus": "sealed occupational assemblages and basement-chamber ceramic cache", "signal": "Field XIII supplies a site-specific Late Bronze ceramic ladder, including a sealed cache of roughly 850 restorable/complete vessels and imported Cypriot wares that connect Shechem to wider exchange networks.", "observations": [ "The sequence spans Late Bronze I, IIA and IIB occupational contexts.", "The sealed basement chamber provides an unusually coherent assemblage for local typology and technology.", "White Slip and Base Ring imports document participation in eastern Mediterranean exchange." ], "boundary": "Ceramic chronology and exchange do not identify the political ruler of a context by themselves, and imported vessel styles are not direct ethnic markers.", "siteIds": [ "shechem" ], "artifactIds": [ "amarna-letters" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Shechem pottery", "Cypriot imports" ], "sourceIds": [ "shechem-duff-2015" ] }, { "id": "tel-eton-iron-age-comparative-pottery", "title": "Tel ‘Eton: Iron Age comparative ceramic sequence", "period": "Iron IIA–IIB", "region": "Southern Shephelah / Judah", "focus": "comparative Iron Age assemblage relative to Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim and Arad", "signal": "The Tel ‘Eton Iron Age pottery provides an independent typological lane for comparing the site’s occupation and destruction horizons with better-known Judahite sequences.", "observations": [ "The published study explicitly compares Tel ‘Eton forms with Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim and Arad.", "Ceramic comparison provides phase-level chronological control independent of Building 101 radiocarbon samples." ], "boundary": "Typological similarity is chronological/cultural evidence; it does not automatically identify a destroyer, administrative status or ethnic boundary.", "siteIds": [ "tel-eton" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Eton pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "tel-eton-zimhoni-1985" ] }, { "id": "beersheba-strata-iii-ii-pottery", "title": "Tel Be’er Sheva: Strata III–II late Iron Age pottery", "period": "late Iron IIA–Iron IIB", "region": "Beersheba Valley / Judah", "focus": "final-report stratified pottery from the late Iron Age cities", "signal": "The final report publishes the pottery as a dedicated volume, giving Strata III–II a controlled ceramic framework for comparison with Lachish and other Judahite destruction assemblages.", "observations": [ "Stratum II ended in a major conflagration with a large sealed ceramic assemblage.", "Continuity and change between Strata III and II can be assessed independently of proposed historical destroyers." ], "boundary": "Ceramic synchronism can support relative chronology; it does not by itself fix the destruction to 701 BCE or identify Sennacherib without the independent historical/archaeomagnetic context.", "siteIds": [ "beersheba" ], "artifactIds": [ "beersheba-horned-altar" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Beersheba pottery", "701 BCE" ], "sourceIds": [ "beersheba-final-2016" ] }, { "id": "tel-zayit-iron-age-borderland-pottery", "title": "Tel Zayit: Iron Age borderland ceramic sequence", "period": "Iron IIA–IIB", "region": "Southern Shephelah / Judah–Philistia borderland", "focus": "successive tenth–eighth-century assemblages and shifting inland/coastal ceramic connections", "signal": "Tel Zayit’s Iron Age ceramic sequence records changing material connections through successive destructions/rebuildings, making the assemblage valuable for studying borderland interaction rather than assigning a fixed ethnic label to the site.", "observations": [ "The tenth-century horizon includes red-slipped/hand-burnished traditions comparable with inland Judahite sequences.", "Later ninth-century assemblages show stronger coastal ceramic influence, while eighth-century occupation belongs to another rebuilt horizon.", "The controlled 14C corpus preserves both plausible Iron IIB samples and a medieval intrusive result, demonstrating post-depositional complexity." ], "boundary": "Ceramic affinity tracks production, exchange and cultural interaction; it is not a one-to-one ethnic or political identifier.", "siteIds": [ "tel-zayit" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Zayit pottery", "Shephelah borderland" ], "sourceIds": [ "tel-zayit-tappy-2017" ] }, { "id": "beth-shean-areas-n-s-transition-pottery", "title": "Tel Beth-Shean Areas N/S: 13th–11th-century ceramic sequence", "period": "Late Bronze IIB–early Iron I", "region": "Beth-Shean Valley", "focus": "local Canaanite, Egyptian-style and imported pottery across the terminal New Kingdom sequence", "signal": "The final report publishes extensive stratified local and Egyptian-style pottery together with imported Aegean/Cypriot material, providing an independent ceramic framework for the N/S sequence.", "observations": [ "Local Canaanite and Egyptian-style ceramic traditions occur within the garrison-town sequence.", "Imported Aegean-style and Cypriot vessels document wider eastern Mediterranean exchange.", "Changes across the 13th–11th centuries can be tracked without assuming that ceramic change equals a single migration or political event." ], "boundary": "Ceramic style and exchange help phase the sequence and track interaction; they do not identify ethnicity, a destroyer or a named biblical population by themselves.", "siteIds": [ "beth-shean" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Beth-Shean pottery", "Late Bronze Iron transition" ], "sourceIds": [ "beth-shean-final-iii-2009" ] }, { "id": "aphek-palace-vi-transition-pottery", "title": "Tel Aphek Palace VI: Late Bronze–Iron transition pottery", "period": "late 13th–12th centuries BCE", "region": "Sharon Plain", "focus": "sealed Palace VI assemblage and post-destruction ceramic transition", "signal": "The Palace VI destruction assemblage provides a tightly contextualized ceramic anchor at the end of the Late Bronze Age; the final report explicitly treats it as an important chronological peg for the transition into Iron I.", "observations": [ "Palace VI pottery is sealed by the late-13th-century destruction.", "Egyptian and local Canaanite wares occur together in the administrative complex.", "Subsequent acropolis occupations show changing material traditions after the palace was destroyed and leveled." ], "boundary": "A sealed ceramic horizon constrains relative/absolute chronology; it does not identify the attackers or convert material change into a one-event ethnic replacement.", "siteIds": [ "aphek" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Aphek pottery", "Late Bronze Iron transition" ], "sourceIds": [ "aphek-antipatris-ii-2009" ] }, { "id": "bethsaida-strata-6-5-iron-ii-pottery", "title": "Bethsaida / et-Tell: Strata 6–5 Iron II ceramic sequence", "period": "Iron IIA–IIB", "region": "northeast Sea of Galilee", "focus": "fortified-city and gate-area pottery across the Strata 6–5 sequence", "signal": "The Bethsaida publication series documents stratified Iron Age ceramic assemblages associated with the foundation, continued use and destruction of the monumental city.", "observations": [ "Strata 6 and 5 provide successive Iron II urban contexts rather than one undifferentiated assemblage.", "Gate/storage rooms preserve large quantities of domestic and storage pottery tied to the built sequence.", "Ceramics and radiocarbon contribute to placing the final Stratum V destruction in the late eighth century." ], "boundary": "Pottery can synchronize occupation phases and exchange networks; it cannot by itself prove Geshurite ethnicity or name the Assyrian destroyer.", "siteIds": [ "bethsaida" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Bethsaida pottery", "Bethsaida radiocarbon" ], "sourceIds": [ "bethsaida-vol4-2009" ] }, { "id": "kinnerot-iron-ib-pottery", "title": "Tel Kinnerot: Iron IB Field I ceramic assemblage", "period": "Iron IB", "region": "northwest Sea of Galilee", "focus": "large lower-town assemblages from successive Iron I habitation and post-destruction phases", "signal": "The Kinneret Regional Project recovered large, varied stratified pottery assemblages from the lower town, providing a strong basis for tracking local continuity and regional interaction around the Sea of Galilee.", "observations": [ "Field I rooms and activity areas yielded large in-situ and floor-associated pottery assemblages.", "Successive post-destruction layers preserve separate pottery groups rather than one mixed terminal horizon.", "The project’s intensive retrieval strategy in newly opened areas improves the representativeness of the recovered assemblage." ], "boundary": "Ceramic connections illuminate regional production/exchange; they should not be converted directly into ethnic labels or a single migration narrative.", "siteIds": [ "tel-kinnerot" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tel Kinrot pottery", "Iron IB Galilee" ], "sourceIds": [ "kinneret-iaa-2009" ] }, { "id": "beit-mirsim-classic-iron-age-seriation", "title": "Tell Beit Mirsim: classic Iron Age ceramic seriation with modern caution", "period": "Iron I–II", "region": "Judean Shephelah", "focus": "foundational destruction-separated pottery sequence and its modern evidentiary limits", "signal": "Albright’s Tell Beit Mirsim pottery publication became foundational because repeated destruction horizons separated ceramic groups unusually clearly, making the site central to southern-Levantine relative chronology.", "observations": [ "Multiple conflagration horizons helped isolate successive pottery assemblages.", "The sequence became a reference framework for Middle Bronze through Iron Age ceramic development.", "Renewed excavations now provide fresh Iron IIB contexts that can test and refine the legacy typology." ], "boundary": "The relative ceramic sequence remains historically important, but Albright’s original absolute dates and specific biblical/historical attributions should not be imported uncritically into the modern dossier.", "siteIds": [ "tell-beit-mirsim" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tell Beit Mirsim pottery", "Iron Age seriation" ], "sourceIds": [ "beit-mirsim-albright-1932", "beit-mirsim-renewed-2023" ] }, { "id": "piramesse-qiv-ramesside-pottery", "title": "Qantir / Pi-Ramesses Area Q IV: Ramesside ceramic sequence", "period": "late 18th–20th Dynasties / Ramesside period", "region": "eastern Nile Delta", "focus": "Area Q IV pottery across living-quarter, workshop, stable and later-reuse phases", "signal": "The Q IV ceramic study supplies an independent phasing tool for the sequence already represented in the dossier, distinguishing earlier habitation, Ramesses II workshop phases, later royal stable use and post-palatial reuse.", "observations": [ "Pottery is stratified across the Q IV architectural sequence rather than treated as one Ramesside assemblage.", "Ceramic change can be compared directly with the workshop/stable transformations in the controlled local column.", "The assemblage helps distinguish Ramesside institutional occupation from later reuse." ], "boundary": "Ceramic phasing refines the urban sequence; it does not identify biblical laborers or date the Exodus without independent evidence.", "siteIds": [ "piramesse" ], "artifactIds": [ "pi-ramesses-site" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Qantir pottery", "Pi-Ramesses workshops" ], "sourceIds": [ "p8121-laemmel-qiv-2008" ] }, { "id": "kition-bamboula-archaic-room-ceramics", "title": "Kition-Bamboula: in-situ Cypro-Archaic room assemblage", "period": "8th–7th centuries BCE", "region": "Kition / Larnaca, Cyprus", "focus": "sealed room assemblage and local/imported container mix", "signal": "Mudbrick collapse preserved a small but controlled vessel set in situ, including imported Phoenician commercial amphoras, locally made Plain White vessels and a Bichrome barrel-jug.", "observations": [ "Imported Phoenician commercial amphoras were recovered beside locally made Plain White containers.", "A Bichrome barrel-jug adds a decorated local/regional component to the sealed room group.", "Several containers remained positioned along the walls, strengthening the contextual value of the assemblage." ], "boundary": "This is a room-specific assemblage, not a statistical sample of all Kition pottery or proof of the ethnicity of the room’s occupants.", "siteIds": [ "kition-phoenician" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Kition Bamboula pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "kition-bamboula-2025" ] }, { "id": "tyre-al-bass-funerary-ceramic-set", "title": "Tyre al-Bass: standardized Phoenician funerary ceramic set", "period": "Iron Age Phoenician", "region": "Tyre, Lebanon", "focus": "funerary banquet/service assemblage", "signal": "The al-Bass tombs repeatedly produce a standardized ceramic set closely associated with preparation and consumption of food and drink, especially wine, within the funerary ritual.", "observations": [ "The vessel set is notably homogeneous across the studied funerary contexts.", "Forms are interpreted together as service equipment connected with food/drink and the mortuary banquet.", "The assemblage is contextual evidence for ritual practice rather than a free-standing ethnic or textual marker." ], "boundary": "A recurring funerary ceramic set supports reconstruction of mortuary practice; it does not by itself identify sacrifice, a tophet, or the beliefs of every individual buried at al-Bass.", "siteIds": [ "tyre-phoenician" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Tyre al-Bass XRF", "Tyre al-Bass XRD" ], "sourceIds": [ "tyre-albass-ceramics-2017", "tyre-pottery-archaeometry-2013" ] }, { "id": "achziv-phoenician-funerary-pottery", "title": "Akhziv cemeteries: Iron Age Phoenician funerary pottery corpus", "period": "Iron Age", "region": "Northern coast of Israel", "focus": "tomb-group pottery and Phoenician mortuary assemblages", "signal": "The Ben-Dor final publication presents a large pottery corpus from the Ez-Zib and Er-Ras cemeteries, organized within controlled tomb contexts and a dedicated pottery typology.", "observations": [ "Pottery is published by cemetery/tomb context together with other grave goods.", "The corpus belongs clearly to the Phoenician cultural sphere.", "Ceramic evidence is used here as mortuary-context data, not as a stand-alone marker of sacrifice or ethnicity." ], "boundary": "Funerary pottery can characterize burial practice and chronology; it cannot by itself establish sacrificial cause of death or a tophet institution.", "siteIds": [ "achziv-phoenician" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Akhziv Phoenician pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "achziv-cemeteries-2002" ] }, { "id": "amman-airport-aegean-pottery", "title": "Amman Airport Late Bronze complex: Aegean/Mycenaean pottery assemblage", "period": "c. 1400–1200 BCE", "region": "Amman, Jordan", "focus": "imported Aegean ceramic chronology and connectivity", "signal": "Imported Aegean/Mycenaean pottery is a major chronological and cultural component of the complex and supports its Late Bronze dating and eastern Mediterranean connections.", "observations": [ "The Aegean pottery was published as a dedicated study from the Hennessy excavations.", "Imported Mycenaean material contributes to the broad 1400–1200 BCE chronological placement of the complex.", "Imported ceramics and burned-remain deposits are separate evidence classes and should not be collapsed into one ritual interpretation." ], "boundary": "Aegean ceramic imports establish exchange and chronology; they do not identify the ethnicity of the complex’s users or prove a sacrificial function.", "siteIds": [ "amman-airport-lb" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Amman Airport Aegean pottery" ], "sourceIds": [ "amman-airport-aegean-1974", "amman-airport-anu" ] }, { "id": "serabit-temple-area-ceramic-petrography", "title": "Serabit el-Khadim temple-area ceramics: macroscopic and thin-section study", "period": "Bronze Age mining-expedition occupations", "region": "South Sinai", "focus": "museum-held temple-area pottery, fabric and supply organization", "signal": "A 2025 study revisits Starr’s 1935 temple-area pottery collection using macroscopic and microscopic thin-section analysis to investigate ceramic fabrics, expedition organization and dependence on the Egyptian mainland.", "observations": [ "The study targets pottery from the temple area rather than generic Sinai ceramics.", "Macroscopic and petrographic observations are used to revisit production/supply questions from an old museum collection.", "The work emphasizes the underused ceramic record alongside the better-known inscriptions and architecture." ], "boundary": "The analyzed museum collection constrains pottery supply and fabric questions; it is not a complete census of all vessels used at Serabit or every mining expedition.", "siteIds": [ "serabit-el-khadim" ], "artifactIds": [], "scienceQueries": [ "Serabit pottery petrography" ], "sourceIds": [ "serabit-ceramics-2025" ] }, { "id": "carthage-tophet-cremation-urns", "title": "Carthage tophet: cremation-urn container tradition", "period": "Phoenician–Punic", "region": "North Africa / Carthage", "focus": "urn containers as structured ritual deposition rather than ordinary domestic refuse", "signal": "Tophet practice repeatedly placed burned offerings in ceramic containers; urn choice and sanctuary deposition form part of the ritual system.", "observations": [ "Ceramic urns are integral containers for cremated human and animal remains.", "Container choice belongs to ritual deposition and should not be read as a direct cause-of-death indicator." ], "boundary": "This profile records urn use as ritual material culture; it does not infer killing from vessel form.", "siteIds": [ "carthage-tophet" ], "artifactIds": [ "carthage-tophet-urn-assemblage" ], "scienceQueries": [ "Carthage tophet faunal offerings" ], "sourceIds": [ "tophet-mccarty-2019" ] }, { "id": "motya-tophet-vessel-sequence", "title": "Motya tophet: stratified vessel and urn sequence", "period": "8th–4th/3rd centuries BCE", "region": "Sicily / Motya", "focus": "ceramic containers within the eight-stratum urnfield succession", "signal": "Published tophet-vessel studies and the Motya periodization permit ceramic change to be tied to the controlled urnfield sequence.", "observations": [ "Tophet vessels are contextualized within an eight-stratum sequence.", "Ceramic evidence contributes to the sanctuary chronology and its expansion." ], "boundary": "Ceramic chronology dates deposition; it does not establish human cause of death.", "siteIds": [ "motya-tophet" ], "artifactIds": [ "motya-mlkt-vow-stele" ], "scienceQueries": [], "sourceIds": [ "orsingher-tophet-vessels-2015", "nigro-motya-periodization-2022" ] }, { "id": "sulcis-tophet-vessel-tradition", "title": "Sulcis/Sulky tophet: urn vessels across separate depositional basins", "period": "c. mid-8th–2nd centuries BCE", "region": "Sardinia / Sulcis", "focus": "urn-vessel chronology across a non-unified bedrock depositional framework", "signal": "Tophet-vessel studies support broad Archaic and later depositional envelopes while warning against forcing the separate natural basins into one vertical ceramic column.", "observations": [ "Ceramic evidence helps bracket the archaic core and later eastward expansion.", "Depositional basins overlap and do not form one simple master sequence." ], "boundary": "Ceramic chronology is broad and spatially structured; it must not be converted into invented micro-strata.", "siteIds": [ "sulcis-tophet" ], "artifactIds": [ "sulcis-mlk-baal-stele" ], "scienceQueries": [], "sourceIds": [ "orsingher-tophet-vessels-2015" ] } ], "sources": [ { "id": "gezer-2023", "title": "The chronology of Gezer from the end of the Late Bronze Age through Iron Age II", "authors": "L. C. Webster et al.", "year": 2023, "kind": "peer-reviewed pottery/radiocarbon chronology", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293119", "note": "Stratified ceramic phases are modeled together with radiocarbon and historical anchors; pottery provides relative sequence, not an independent exact year." }, { "id": "phil-monochrome-lcp", "title": "Philistine I: Monochrome", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2023, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/29-philistine-i-monochrome", "note": "Reference profile for the Iron I monochrome Aegean-derived repertoire in the southern coastal plain." }, { "id": "phil-bichrome-lcp", "title": "Philistine II: Iron Age Bichrome ware", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2023, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/41-philistine-ii-iron-age-bichrome-ware", "note": "Reference profile for the later bichrome assemblage and its mixed Aegean/Canaanite/Cypriot/Egyptian stylistic components." }, { "id": "phil-chronology-2018", "title": "Philistine chronology: An update", "authors": "Israel Finkelstein", "year": 2018, "kind": "peer-reviewed chronology review", "url": "https://cris.tau.ac.il/en/publications/philistine-chronology-an-update-2/", "note": "Highlights the continuing debate over the start and duration of Philistine Monochrome and Bichrome phases." }, { "id": "megiddo-bichrome-2022", "title": "The Date of Appearance of Philistine Pottery at Megiddo: A Computational Approach", "authors": "E. Levy, I. Finkelstein, M. Martin, E. Piasetzky", "year": 2022, "kind": "peer-reviewed computational chronology", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1086/719048", "note": "Models the arrival of Philistine Bichrome at Megiddo and demonstrates that ceramic appearance dates can vary by site." }, { "id": "collared-rim-1996", "title": "Highland exploitation and the collared-rim pithos of the Bronze/Iron Age Levant", "authors": "David Wengrow", "year": 1996, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic interpretation", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1996.tb00088.x", "note": "A key warning against treating collared-rim pithoi as a simple ethnic fossil for Israelites." }, { "id": "ashkelon-iron1", "title": "Chronological observations at the dawn of the Iron Age in Ashkelon", "authors": "Daniel Master, Lawrence Stager, Assaf Yasur-Landau", "year": 2011, "kind": "peer-reviewed stratigraphic ceramic study", "url": "https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/chronological-observations-at-the-dawn-of-the-iron-age-in-ashkelo/", "note": "Uses the Ashkelon sequence to track the transition from Egyptian-garrison to early Philistine material culture." }, { "id": "galilee-basalt-lcp", "title": "Galilean Hellenistic-Roman Basaltic cooking ware", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2025, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/151-galilean-hellenistic-roman-basaltic-cooking-ware", "note": "Distinctive regional cooking ware useful for tracing supply and culinary networks in the Galilee/Golan." }, { "id": "herodian-lamps-lcp", "title": "Wheel-made Knife-Pared (Herodian) Lamps", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2024, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/936-wheel-made-knife-pared-herodian-lamps", "note": "The conventional label “Herodian” is broader than Herod the Great’s reign and should not be used as a precise political date." }, { "id": "jpw-lcp", "title": "Judaean Early Roman Painted Ware", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2020, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/859-judaean-early-roman-painted-ware-jpw", "note": "A distinctive Early Roman Judaean table-ware family useful for assemblage comparison." }, { "id": "galilee-handmade-lcp", "title": "Galilean/Golan Hellenistic handmade coarse ware", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2020, "kind": "curated ceramic reference", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/wares/913-galilean-golan-hellenistic-handmade-coarse-ware", "note": "Large local storage jars reflect agricultural practice and market connections in Hellenistic Galilee." }, { "id": "qeren-naftali-lcp", "title": "Qeren Naftali ceramic sequence", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2022, "kind": "site ceramic registry", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/sites/2297-qeren-naftali", "note": "Documents Hellenistic and Early Roman ware families including Eastern Sigillata and regional cooking wares." }, { "id": "yodefat-lcp", "title": "Yodefat ceramic sequence", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2018, "kind": "site ceramic registry", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/sites/1167-yodefat", "note": "Assemblages from Hellenistic and Early Roman Yodefat provide a northern Galilee comparison." }, { "id": "kedesh-lcp", "title": "Qedesh/Kedesh ceramic sequence", "authors": "Levantine Ceramics Project", "year": 2025, "kind": "site ceramic registry", "url": "https://www.levantineceramics.org/sites/1525-qedesh-kedesh", "note": "Useful for imported and regional wares in Persian/Hellenistic northern Levantine assemblages." }, { "id": "lmlk-ceramic-context", "title": "LMLK stamped jar systems in late Iron II Judah", "authors": "Project synthesis of published corpora", "year": 2026, "kind": "ceramic-administrative synthesis", "url": "https://www.lmlk.com/", "note": "Stamped storage jars are treated as an administrative ceramic system; stamp typology, vessel chronology and historical attribution remain distinct questions." }, { "id": "nigro-yasine-jericho-2024", "title": "Interim report on the excavations at Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho (2019–2023): the Bronze and Iron Age cities", "authors": "Lorenzo Nigro; Jehad Yasine", "year": 2024, "kind": "peer-reviewed excavation report / ceramic context", "url": "https://doi.org/10.53131/VO2724-587X2024-2_4", "note": "Publishes the Area G Late Bronze ceramic finds associated with the Middle Building horizon, including a White Slip II milk-bowl fragment and local carinated bowls." }, { "id": "hazor-lower-city-2026", "title": "Tel Ḥaẓor, the Lower City (G-42/2023)", "authors": "Shlomit Bechar", "year": 2026, "kind": "official excavation report / ceramic context", "url": "https://publications.iaa.org.il/ha-esi/vol138/iss1/21/", "note": "Publishes Area H1/H2 LB II ceramic/activity contexts and their local stratigraphic attribution." }, { "id": "lachish-fourth-expedition-2021", "title": "The Canaanite and Judean Cities of Lachish, Israel: Preliminary Report of the Fourth Expedition, 2013–2017", "authors": "Yosef Garfinkel et al.", "year": 2021, "kind": "peer-reviewed excavation synthesis", "url": "https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.125.3.0419", "note": "Summarizes the renewed excavation, the long Bronze/Iron sequence, Level III siege landscape, the internal counter-ramp, and the rebuilding/destruction history relevant to the Site Dossier." }, { "id": "rehov-pottery-vol4-2020", "title": "Tel Reḥov Volume IV: Pottery Studies, Inscriptions and Figurative Art", "authors": "Amihai Mazar and Nava Panitz-Cohen (eds.)", "year": 2020, "kind": "final-report ceramic corpus", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/journal/qedem", "note": "Qedem 62 publishes local and imported Late Bronze/Iron Age ceramics and petrographic analyses from Tel Reḥov." }, { "id": "rehov-radiocarbon-ladder-2005", "title": "Ladder of Time at Tel Reḥov: Stratigraphy, archaeological context, pottery and radiocarbon dates", "authors": "Amihai Mazar et al.", "year": 2005, "kind": "stratigraphic / ceramic / radiocarbon synthesis", "url": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/bible-and-radiocarbon-dating/ladder-of-time-at-tel-rehov-stratigraphy-archaeological-context-pottery-and-radiocarbon-dates/837A9E85DBF6A724089209AC4B286E97", "note": "Correlates Area phases, site-wide Strata VI–IV, ceramic assemblages and radiocarbon evidence." }, { "id": "avaris-aston-bietak-pottery-2004", "title": "Tell el-Dabʿa XII: A Corpus of Late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period Pottery", "authors": "David A. Aston with Manfred Bietak", "year": 2004, "kind": "final ceramic corpus", "url": "https://www.oeaw.ac.at/resources/Record/990000803390504498", "note": "Defines the Egyptian and Levantine ceramic corpus across the Late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period; ceramic phase markers are chronological/cultural evidence, not direct ethnic labels." }, { "id": "avaris-l81-ceramic-deposit", "title": "Tell el-Dabʿa: Ceramic Deposition L81 – documentation and evaluation", "authors": "Austrian Archaeological Institute / David Aston", "year": 2026, "kind": "excavation-project ceramic synthesis", "url": "https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/research/prehistory-wana-archaeology/archaeology-in-egypt-and-sudan/tell-el-dab%CA%BFa-ceramic-deposition-l81", "note": "Area F/II palace refuse/banquet deposit with more than 35,000 diagnostic sherds and nearly 2,000 reconstructable vessels; mostly local pottery with imports from Cyprus, the Levant, Upper Egypt and Nubia." }, { "id": "avaris-hvi-ceramic-chronology", "title": "Tell el-Dabʿa: Chronological evaluation of ceramic typologies from Ezbet Helmi, Area H/VI", "authors": "Austrian Archaeological Institute / David Aston", "year": 2026, "kind": "ceramic-chronology research project", "url": "https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/research/prehistory-wana-archaeology/archaeology-in-egypt-and-sudan/tell-el-dab%CA%BFa-chronological-evaluation-of-ceramic-typologies-from-ezbet-helmi-area-h-vi", "note": "More than 200,000 diagnostic sherds from Area H/VI are used to trace the late Hyksos-to-Early New Kingdom ceramic transition through Horemheb." }, { "id": "ekron-field-iv-iron-i-final-2016", "title": "Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations, Field IV Lower—The Elite Zone, Part 1: The Iron Age I Early Philistine City", "authors": "Trude Dothan, Yosef Garfinkel, Seymour Gitin", "year": 2016, "kind": "final excavation report", "url": "https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications/tel-miqne-ekron-field-iv-lower%E2%80%94-elite-zone-iron-age-i-and-iic-early-and-late", "note": "Final Field IV Lower publication for Strata VII–IV, including the Iron I occupational history, ceramics, objects and faunal evidence." }, { "id": "ekron-field-iv-iic-final-2017", "title": "Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations, Field IV Lower—The Elite Zone, Part 2: The Iron Age IIC Late Philistine City", "authors": "Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan, Yosef Garfinkel", "year": 2017, "kind": "final excavation report", "url": "https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications/pp1-margin-00px-00px-00px-00px-font-120px-consolas-webkit-text-stroke-000000", "note": "Final report for Strata Pre-IC, IC, IB and IA, including comprehensive ceramic study and late Philistine urban history." }, { "id": "ekron-temple-650-final-2022", "title": "Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations 1994–1996, Field IV Upper and Field V: Iron Age IIC Temple Complex 650", "authors": "Seymour Gitin, Steven M. Ortiz, Trude Dothan", "year": 2022, "kind": "final excavation report", "url": "https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications/tel-miqne-ekron-excavations-1994%E2%80%931996-field-iv-upper-and-field-v-elite-zone", "note": "Final publication of Temple Complex 650, its architecture, ceramic assemblage, small finds and Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription; the major Stratum IB phase was destroyed in 604 BCE." }, { "id": "ekron-pottery-naa-1986", "title": "On the Origin of Pottery from Tel Miqne-Ekron", "authors": "Jan Gunneweg, Trude Dothan, Isadore Perlman, Seymour Gitin", "year": 1986, "kind": "peer-reviewed neutron-activation ceramic provenance study", "url": "https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/1357015", "note": "Instrumental neutron activation analysis of 44 ceramic specimens; the study showed that Aegean-style Mycenaean IIIC:1b pottery at early Iron Age Ekron was locally manufactured." }, { "id": "ekron-philistine-ceramics-2004", "title": "A Preliminary Study of the Mycenaean IIIC:1 Pottery Assemblages from Tel Miqne-Ekron and Ashdod", "authors": "Trude Dothan, Alexander Zukerman", "year": 2004, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic typology study", "url": "https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/basor/2004/333", "note": "Typological study of locally produced Mycenaean IIIC:1 assemblages, their stratigraphic contexts and Aegean/Cypriot technological and stylistic connections." }, { "id": "tel-dan-daniv-2019", "title": "DAN IV — The Iron Age I Settlement: The Avraham Biran Excavations (1966–1999)", "authors": "David Ilan et al.", "year": 2019, "kind": "final excavation report", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvw04drv", "note": "Comprehensive final report for the Iron Age I occupation, architecture, ceramics, metallurgy, ritual contexts, faunal remains, archaeobotany and specialist analyses at Tel Dan." }, { "id": "tel-dan-petrography-2019", "title": "A Petrographic Study of Early Iron Age Containers at Tel Dan", "authors": "Paula Waiman-Barak; Ayelet Gilboa", "year": 2019, "kind": "ceramic petrography / provenance study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvw04drv.10", "note": "Thin-section petrographic provenance study of 21 early Iron Age containers from Tel Dan, documenting predominantly local/regional manufacture together with limited long-distance imports." }, { "id": "v62-moza-iaa-2009", "title": "Salvage Excavations at Tel Moẓa: The Bronze and Iron Age Settlements and Later Occupations", "authors": "Zvi Greenhut; Alon De Groot", "year": 2009, "kind": "Israel Antiquities Authority final excavation monograph", "url": "https://publications.iaa.org.il/iaareports/38/", "note": "Final publication of the salvage sequence; defines the multi-period stratigraphy and Iron Age administrative center." }, { "id": "kisilevitz-tel-moza-2015", "title": "The Iron IIA Judahite Temple at Tel Moẓa", "authors": "Shua Kisilevitz", "year": 2015, "kind": "peer-reviewed excavation / architectural publication", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1179/0334435515Z.00000000052", "note": "Publishes the Iron IIA temple complex, courtyard floor, cultic assemblage and architectural context at Tel Moẓa; used here as a source for the temple-precinct stratigraphic sequence." }, { "id": "gerizim-temple-model-2020", "title": "Was the Temple on Mount Gerizim Modelled after the Jerusalem Temple?", "url": "https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11020073", "kind": "Peer-reviewed architectural/religious study" }, { "id": "arie-gerizim-revisiting", "title": "Revisiting Mount Gerizim: The Foundation of the Sacred Precinct and the Proto-Ionic Capitals", "url": "https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/revisiting-mount-gerizim-the-foundation-of-the-sacred-precinct-an/", "kind": "Peer-reviewed archaeology" }, { "id": "shechem-duff-2015", "title": "Shechem V: The Late Bronze Age Pottery from Field XIII at Shechem / Tell Balâtah", "authors": "Catherine A. Duff; ed. Edward F. Campbell", "year": 2015, "kind": "final ceramic publication", "url": "https://doi.org/10.5615/j.ctvj7wkvv", "note": "Publishes the Late Bronze I–IIB Field XIII ceramic sequence, including the sealed basement-chamber cache." }, { "id": "tel-eton-zimhoni-1985", "title": "The Iron Age Pottery of Tel 'Eton and its Relation to the Lachish, Tell Beit Mirsim and Arad Assemblages", "authors": "Orna Zimhoni", "year": 1985, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1179/tav.1985.1985.1.63", "note": "Comparative study of the Tel Eton Iron Age assemblages against major Judahite ceramic sequences." }, { "id": "beersheba-final-2016", "title": "Beer-Sheba III: The Early Iron IIA Enclosed Settlement and the Late Iron IIA–Iron IIB Cities", "authors": "Ze’ev Herzog; Lily Singer-Avitz", "year": 2016, "kind": "final excavation report — stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, artifacts and ecofacts", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jj.8763120", "note": "Final publication of the Iron Age city, including stratigraphy/architecture, pottery and ecofacts." }, { "id": "tel-zayit-tappy-2017", "title": "The Archaeology and History of Tel Zayit: A Record of Liminal Life", "authors": "Ron E. Tappy", "year": 2017, "kind": "excavation synthesis / site-history chapter", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/j.ctv1bxh4cw.11", "note": "Synthesizes the Late Bronze and Iron Age stratigraphic, architectural and ceramic history of Tel Zayit as a Shephelah borderland site." }, { "id": "v59-samaria-tappy-2001", "title": "The Archaeology of Israelite Samaria, Volume 2: The Eighth Century BCE", "authors": "Ron E. Tappy", "year": 2001, "kind": "specialist stratigraphic/depositional reassessment", "url": "https://hmane.harvard.edu/publications/archaeology-israelite-samaria-volume-2", "note": "Reconstructs the eighth-century depositional history of Samaria and critically reassesses the older expedition sequence, including the complexity of the final Israelite periods." }, { "id": "v59-samaria-buildings-1942", "title": "The Buildings at Samaria (Samaria-Sebaste I)", "authors": "J. W. Crowfoot, Kathleen M. Kenyon, E. L. Sukenik", "year": 1942, "kind": "final excavation report", "url": "https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sqyr7um2", "note": "Final architectural publication of the Joint Expedition; foundational source for the Samaria building-period sequence and acropolis stratigraphy." }, { "id": "beth-shean-final-iii-2009", "title": "Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean 1989–1996, Volume III: The 13th–11th Century BCE Strata in Areas N and S", "authors": "Nava Panitz-Cohen; Amihai Mazar (eds.)", "year": 2009, "kind": "final excavation report — stratigraphy, architecture, pottery and finds", "url": "https://cris.huji.ac.il/en/publications/excavations-at-tel-beth-shean-1989-1996-volume-iii-the-13th-11th-/", "note": "Final publication of Areas N and S, including Egyptian-garrison-town stratigraphy/architecture and local, Egyptian-style and imported pottery." }, { "id": "aphek-antipatris-ii-2009", "title": "Aphek-Antipatris II: The Remains on the Acropolis (The Moshe Kochavi and Pirhiya Beck Excavations)", "authors": "Yuval Gadot; Esther Yadin (eds.)", "year": 2009, "kind": "final excavation report — acropolis architecture and pottery", "url": "https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/publications/aphek-antipatris-ii-remains-acropolis-moshe-kochavi-and-pirhiya-beck", "note": "Final report of Middle/Late Bronze and Iron Age acropolis remains, including Palace VI and the Late Bronze–Iron transition pottery." }, { "id": "bethsaida-vol4-2009", "title": "Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, Volume 4", "authors": "Rami Arav; Richard A. Freund (eds.)", "year": 2009, "kind": "final excavation reports and specialist studies", "url": "https://bethsaidaarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/bethsaida-vol4-toc.pdf", "note": "Includes the final report on Area A Stratum V city gate plus petrography, pollen, archaeobotany and carbon-14 studies." }, { "id": "kinneret-iaa-2009", "title": "Tel Kinrot, Kinneret Regional Project — 2008 Excavation Report", "authors": "Kinneret Regional Project", "year": 2009, "kind": "excavation report", "url": "https://hadashot.iaa.org.il/Report_Detail_eng.aspx?id=1080&print=nopic", "note": "Reports well-preserved Iron IB architecture, activity installations, pottery assemblages and paleobotanical observations in Field I." }, { "id": "beit-mirsim-albright-1932", "title": "The Excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim in Palestine, Volume I: The Pottery of the First Three Campaigns", "authors": "William F. Albright", "year": 1932, "kind": "classic excavation report — ceramic sequence", "url": "http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11889/3884", "note": "Foundational ceramic-seriation publication; absolute/historical attributions require modern reassessment even where the relative sequence remains useful." }, { "id": "p8121-laemmel-qiv-2008", "title": "Preliminary Report on the Pottery from Area Q IV at Qantir/Pi-Ramesse", "authors": "Sabine Laemmel", "year": 2008, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic / stratigraphic report", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1553/AEundL18s173", "note": "Publishes the Q IV pottery and stratigraphic sequence, including Ramesside stable use, later squatter reuse and subsequent cemetery activity." }, { "id": "kition-bamboula-2025", "title": "Completion of the 2025 excavation season at Kition–Bamboula", "authors": "Cyprus Department of Antiquities / French Archaeological Mission", "year": 2025, "kind": "official excavation report", "url": "https://www.gov.cy/en/culture/completion-of-the-2025-excavation-season-of-the-french-archaeological-mission-conducted-at-kition-bamboula-in-october-2025/", "note": "Reports Sondage 11 Archaic stone-and-mudbrick architecture with an in-situ Cypro-Archaic ceramic assemblage beneath later Classical disturbance." }, { "id": "tyre-albass-ceramics-2017", "title": "The Tyrian cemetery of al-Bass and the role of ceramics in the Phoenician funerary ritual", "authors": "Francisco J. Núñez", "year": 2017, "kind": "peer-reviewed funerary-ceramic study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2017.1391026", "note": "Defines the standardized ceramic set associated with food/drink service and funerary ritual at al-Bass." }, { "id": "achziv-cemeteries-2002", "title": "The Akhziv Cemeteries: The Ben-Dor Excavations, 1941–1944", "authors": "Michal Dayagi-Mendels", "year": 2002, "kind": "IAA final excavation report", "url": "https://publications.iaa.org.il/iaareports/62/", "note": "Final report for two Iron Age Phoenician cemeteries, including tomb typology, stratigraphy, pottery and small finds." }, { "id": "amman-airport-aegean-1974", "title": "A Late Bronze Age Temple at Amman: I. The Aegean Pottery", "authors": "Vronwy Hankey", "year": 1974, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1179/lev.1974.6.1.131", "note": "Publishes the Aegean/Mycenaean pottery central to dating and contextualizing the Late Bronze complex." }, { "id": "serabit-ceramics-2025", "title": "Serabit el-Khadem, Southeastern Sinai: Getting to Know an Ancient Egyptian Mining Site Through its Ceramics", "authors": "Veerle Caelen; Patrick Degryse", "year": 2025, "kind": "peer-reviewed ceramic petrography", "url": "https://doi.org/10.32028/antor.v22i.3184", "note": "Macroscopic and thin-section study of Starr-expedition pottery from the temple area, focused on expedition organization and Egyptian-mainland dependence." }, { "id": "tophet-mccarty-2019", "title": "The Tophet and Infant Sacrifice", "authors": "Matthew M. McCarty", "year": 2019, "kind": "scholarly tophet synthesis", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190499341.013.21", "note": "Comparative synthesis emphasizing variability among tophet sanctuaries and the need to separate ritual deposition from assumptions about individual cause of death." }, { "id": "tophet-xella-2023", "title": "The Levantine Roots of the tophet Sanctuary", "authors": "Paolo Xella", "year": 2023, "kind": "peer-reviewed historical/epigraphic synthesis", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1515/jah-2023-0015", "note": "Assesses colonial chronology, epigraphy and literary evidence for Phoenician roots of western tophet institutions while recognizing the absent securely excavated eastern tophet." }, { "id": "orsingher-tophet-vessels-2015", "title": "Vessels in Tophet sanctuaries: the Archaic evidence and the Levantine connection", "authors": "Adriano Orsingher", "year": 2015, "kind": "comparative archaeological / ceramic stratigraphy study", "url": "https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274734049_Vessels_in_Tophet_sanctuaries_the_Archaic_evidence_and_the_Levantine_connection_BAAL_Hors-Serie_X_561-590", "note": "Provides the key methodological contrast used here: Motya has a generally clear three-phase/eight-stratum sequence, whereas Sulky/Sulcis consists of separate bedrock depositional basins with no unified published stratigraphy and irregular vertical/horizontal overlap." }, { "id": "qasile-mazar-1985", "title": "Excavations at Tell Qasile, Part Two: Various Finds, the Pottery, Conclusions, Appendixes", "authors": "Amihai Mazar", "year": 1985, "kind": "final excavation report / quantified pottery", "url": "https://books.google.com/books/about/Excavations_at_Tell_Qasile.html?id=S_Eh0gEACAAJ", "note": "Qedem 20. Table 11 is the underlying quantified Area C sequence cited for mean decorated Philistine pottery frequencies in Strata XII–X." }, { "id": "qasile-gilboa-2006", "title": "Philistine Bichrome Pottery: The View from the Northern Canaanite Coast", "authors": "Ayelet Gilboa, Anat Cohen-Weinberger, Yuval Goren", "year": 2006, "kind": "peer-reviewed book chapter / quantitative synthesis", "url": "https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-57506-103-0.html", "note": "Reports Tell Qasile Area C mean frequencies of decorated Philistine pottery as 24% (XII), 14.3% (XI), and 14.6% (X), while warning that temple-related contexts may bias proportions upward." }, { "id": "ashdod-vi-2005", "title": "Ashdod VI: The Excavations of Areas H and K (1968–1969)", "authors": "Moshe Dothan and David Ben-Shlomo", "year": 2005, "kind": "final excavation report / material culture", "url": "https://publications.iaa.org.il/iaareports/54/", "note": "Final IAA publication for Areas H and K; the published pottery corpus underlies the controlled-locus frequency sequence used here." }, { "id": "faust-2012-philistia", "title": "Between Israel and Philistia: Ethnic Negotiations in the South During Iron Age I", "authors": "Avraham Faust", "year": 2012, "kind": "peer-reviewed synthesis / quantitative ceramic interpretation", "url": "https://cris.iucc.ac.il/en/publications/between-israel-and-philistia-ethnic-negotiations-in-the-south-dur", "note": "Synthesizes Ashdod Areas H/K rim-count data: local-tradition / Philistine-style pottery = 73/24% in XIII, 52/47% in XII, and 41/58% in XI. Values are preserved as published rather than renormalized." }, { "id": "faust-katz-2011-trough", "title": "Philistines, Israelites and Canaanites in the Southern Trough Valley during the Iron Age I", "authors": "Avraham Faust and Hayah Katz", "year": 2011, "kind": "peer-reviewed regional ceramic synthesis", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1553/AEUNDL21S231", "note": "Figure 7 compares published Aegean-style pottery frequencies across Iron I sites. The workbench excludes the unpublished/personal-communication Ashkelon value from its source-controlled comparator." } ], "phaseSignals": [ { "id": "ash-p21-egyptian", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p21", "profileId": "lb-iron-transition", "familyId": "egyptian-egyptian-style", "label": "Egyptian / Egyptian-style ceramics", "state": "substantial component", "trend": "characteristic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "The final Late Bronze phase has a substantial Egyptian/Egyptian-style ceramic component and precedes the first Philistine horizon.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1" ] }, { "id": "ash-p21-monochrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p21", "profileId": "philistine-monochrome", "familyId": "philistine-monochrome", "label": "Philistine Monochrome / Mycenaean IIIC-derived repertoire", "state": "not yet in modeled sequence", "trend": "pre-appearance", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Phase 21 precedes the first Philistine horizon in the modeled Grid 38 sequence.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-monochrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p20-monochrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p20", "profileId": "philistine-monochrome", "familyId": "philistine-monochrome", "label": "Philistine Monochrome / Mycenaean IIIC-derived repertoire", "state": "first modeled horizon", "trend": "appears", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "The new Phase 20 architectural scheme contains early Philistine Monochrome/Mycenaean IIIC-derived pottery.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-monochrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p20-bichrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p20", "profileId": "philistine-bichrome", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine Bichrome", "state": "not yet dominant", "trend": "pre-appearance", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Phase 20 has no Bichrome-dominated assemblage yet.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-bichrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p19-monochrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p19", "profileId": "philistine-monochrome", "familyId": "philistine-monochrome", "label": "Philistine Monochrome / Mycenaean IIIC-derived repertoire", "state": "continues", "trend": "persists", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Monochrome remains present in Phase 19 alongside the newly appearing Bichrome repertoire.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-monochrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p19-bichrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p19", "profileId": "philistine-bichrome", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine Bichrome", "state": "emerging", "trend": "appears", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Philistine Bichrome appears alongside Monochrome in Phase 19.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-bichrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p18-bichrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p18", "profileId": "philistine-bichrome", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine Bichrome", "state": "characteristic", "trend": "increases", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Bichrome remains characteristic within the continuing Iron I sequence in Phase 18.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-bichrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p17-bichrome", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p17", "profileId": "philistine-bichrome", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine Bichrome", "state": "late continuation", "trend": "persists", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Late Philistine Bichrome remains in the youngest modeled phase.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1", "phil-bichrome-lcp" ] }, { "id": "ash-p17-local", "siteId": "ashkelon", "sequenceId": "ashkelon-grid38-lb-iron1", "phaseId": "ashkelon-g38-p17", "profileId": "lb-iron-transition", "familyId": "localized-canaanite-practices", "label": "Localized Canaanite ceramic practices", "state": "increasing", "trend": "increases", "confidence": "moderate-high", "evidence": "Phase 17 is characterized by increasing localized Canaanite practices alongside late Philistine Bichrome.", "sourceIds": [ "ashkelon-iron1" ] }, { "id": "gezer-11-philistine2", "siteId": "gezer", "sequenceId": "gezer-tandy-sequence", "phaseId": "gezer-tandy-11", "profileId": "philistine-bichrome", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine 2 / Bichrome-related pottery", "state": "appears", "trend": "appears", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "The published Tandy sequence explicitly places the appearance of Philistine 2 pottery in Stratum 11; characteristic Philistine pottery makes up 5% of the relevant pottery assemblage in Fields VI and the Tandy excavation.", "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ], "quantified": { "value": 5.0, "unit": "percent", "label": "5% of relevant pottery assemblage", "denominator": "relevant pottery assemblage", "seriesId": "gezer-stratum-xiii-philistine-anchor" } }, { "id": "rehov-vi-local", "siteId": "tel-rehov", "sequenceId": "tel-rehov-iron", "phaseId": "rehov-vi", "profileId": "tel-rehov-iron-iia-assemblages", "familyId": "rehov-iron-iia-local", "label": "Tel Reḥov Iron IIA local assemblage", "state": "earlier variant", "trend": "phase-shift", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Stratum VI belongs to Iron IIA but differs in ceramic details from the later V–IV assemblages.", "sourceIds": [ "rehov-pottery-vol4-2020", "rehov-radiocarbon-ladder-2005" ] }, { "id": "rehov-v-local", "siteId": "tel-rehov", "sequenceId": "tel-rehov-iron", "phaseId": "rehov-v", "profileId": "tel-rehov-iron-iia-assemblages", "familyId": "rehov-iron-iia-local", "label": "Tel Reḥov Iron IIA local assemblage", "state": "rich later assemblage", "trend": "phase-shift", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Stratum V preserves a rich late Iron IIA assemblage closely related to Stratum IV.", "sourceIds": [ "rehov-pottery-vol4-2020", "rehov-radiocarbon-ladder-2005" ] }, { "id": "rehov-iv-local", "siteId": "tel-rehov", "sequenceId": "tel-rehov-iron", "phaseId": "rehov-iv", "profileId": "tel-rehov-iron-iia-assemblages", "familyId": "rehov-iron-iia-local", "label": "Tel Reḥov Iron IIA local assemblage", "state": "closely related to V", "trend": "persists", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Stratum IV continues an assemblage closely related to Stratum V within the radiocarbon-linked Iron IIA ladder.", "sourceIds": [ "rehov-pottery-vol4-2020", "rehov-radiocarbon-ladder-2005" ] }, { "id": "hazor-1b-miniature", "siteId": "hazor", "sequenceId": "hazor-lower-city-h", "phaseId": "hazor-lower-h-1b", "profileId": "hazor-lower-city-h-lbii", "familyId": "hazor-miniature-vessels", "label": "Miniature vessels", "state": "clustered in drainage context", "trend": "phase-diagnostic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Miniature vessels cluster in the Stratum 1B drainage-channel context near the temple approach.", "sourceIds": [ "hazor-lower-city-2026" ] }, { "id": "hazor-1b-lbii", "siteId": "hazor", "sequenceId": "hazor-lower-city-h", "phaseId": "hazor-lower-h-1b", "profileId": "hazor-lower-city-h-lbii", "familyId": "hazor-lbii-assemblage", "label": "Area H Late Bronze II assemblage family", "state": "present", "trend": "persists", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Bowls, kraters, cooking pots, pithoi, juglets, lamps, chalice fragments and miniature vessels occur in the Area H LB II sequence.", "sourceIds": [ "hazor-lower-city-2026" ] }, { "id": "hazor-1a-lbii", "siteId": "hazor", "sequenceId": "hazor-lower-city-h", "phaseId": "hazor-lower-h-1a", "profileId": "hazor-lower-city-h-lbii", "familyId": "hazor-lbii-assemblage", "label": "Area H Late Bronze II assemblage family", "state": "closely similar continuation", "trend": "persists", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "The latest Area H phase preserves later pottery clusters and living surfaces, but ceramic similarity with 1B limits typological phase separation.", "sourceIds": [ "hazor-lower-city-2026" ] }, { "id": "jericho-va-white-slip", "siteId": "jericho", "sequenceId": "jericho-area-gh-spring-hill", "phaseId": "jericho-gh-va", "profileId": "jericho-area-g-late-bronze", "familyId": "white-slip-ii", "label": "Cypriot White Slip II", "state": "diagnostic import present", "trend": "phase-diagnostic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "A White Slip II milk-bowl fragment occurs in the Middle Building horizon and supports a fifteenth-century BCE placement.", "sourceIds": [ "nigro-yasine-jericho-2024" ] }, { "id": "jericho-va-local-bowls", "siteId": "jericho", "sequenceId": "jericho-area-gh-spring-hill", "phaseId": "jericho-gh-va", "profileId": "jericho-area-g-late-bronze", "familyId": "jericho-local-bowls", "label": "Local carinated / pointed-bowl forms", "state": "present", "trend": "phase-diagnostic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Two carinated bowls and a pointed-bowl handle accompany the imported White Slip II fragment in the local Middle Building assemblage.", "sourceIds": [ "nigro-yasine-jericho-2024" ] }, { "id": "aphek-x12-egyptian", "siteId": "aphek", "sequenceId": "aphek-area-x", "phaseId": "aphek-x12", "profileId": "aphek-palace-vi-transition-pottery", "familyId": "egyptian-egyptian-style", "label": "Egyptian ceramic tradition", "state": "present in sealed palace assemblage", "trend": "characteristic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Egyptian and local Canaanite wares occur together in the Palace VI assemblage sealed by the late-13th-century destruction.", "sourceIds": [ "aphek-antipatris-ii-2009" ] }, { "id": "aphek-x12-canaanite", "siteId": "aphek", "sequenceId": "aphek-area-x", "phaseId": "aphek-x12", "profileId": "aphek-palace-vi-transition-pottery", "familyId": "local-canaanite", "label": "Local Canaanite wares", "state": "present in sealed palace assemblage", "trend": "characteristic", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "Local Canaanite wares occur together with Egyptian pottery in the sealed Palace VI destruction assemblage.", "sourceIds": [ "aphek-antipatris-ii-2009" ] }, { "id": "aphek-x10-philistine", "siteId": "aphek", "sequenceId": "aphek-area-x", "phaseId": "aphek-x10", "profileId": "aphek-palace-vi-transition-pottery", "familyId": "philistine-associated", "label": "Philistine-associated pottery", "state": "present", "trend": "appears", "confidence": "high", "evidence": "The succeeding Iron I X10 sequence contains Philistine-associated pottery after the Palace VI destruction and leveling.", "sourceIds": [ "aphek-antipatris-ii-2009" ] }, { "id": "ekron-viib-phil1", "siteId": "tel-miqne-ekron", "sequenceId": "ekron-acropolis", "phaseId": "ekron-viib", "profileId": "ekron-iron-i-philistine-ceramic-sequence", "familyId": "philistine-1-mycenaean-iiic", "label": "Philistine 1 / Mycenaean IIIC:1 repertoire", "state": "dominant in earliest Iron I repertoire", "trend": "appears", "confidence": "moderate-high; broad Stratum VII → VIIB phase alignment", "evidence": "The ceramic profile places Philistine 1 / Mycenaean IIIC:1 as the dominant earliest Iron I repertoire; the modeled VIIB phase is the earliest Philistine-city horizon in this project sequence.", "sourceIds": [ "ekron-field-iv-iron-i-final-2016", "ekron-philistine-ceramics-2004" ] }, { "id": "ekron-via-vb-phil1", "siteId": "tel-miqne-ekron", "sequenceId": "ekron-acropolis", "phaseId": "ekron-via-vb", "profileId": "ekron-iron-i-philistine-ceramic-sequence", "familyId": "philistine-1-mycenaean-iiic", "label": "Philistine 1 / Mycenaean IIIC:1 repertoire", "state": "declining / being replaced", "trend": "decreases", "confidence": "moderate-high; broad later-Iron-I phase alignment", "evidence": "The source synthesis describes the earlier Philistine 1 repertoire as gradually replaced by Philistine 2 / Bichrome through the later Iron I sequence.", "sourceIds": [ "ekron-field-iv-iron-i-final-2016", "ekron-philistine-ceramics-2004" ] }, { "id": "ekron-via-vb-phil2", "siteId": "tel-miqne-ekron", "sequenceId": "ekron-acropolis", "phaseId": "ekron-via-vb", "profileId": "ekron-iron-i-philistine-ceramic-sequence", "familyId": "philistine-bichrome", "label": "Philistine 2 / Bichrome repertoire", "state": "increasing / replacing earlier repertoire", "trend": "increases", "confidence": "moderate-high; broad later-Iron-I phase alignment", "evidence": "Philistine 2 / Bichrome traditions replace the earlier Philistine 1 repertoire through the later Iron I phases.", "sourceIds": [ "ekron-field-iv-iron-i-final-2016", "ekron-philistine-ceramics-2004" ] } ], "quantifiedAssemblages": [ { "id": "avaris-l81", "siteId": "avaris", "profileId": "avaris-middle-bronze-hyksos-ceramic-sequence", "label": "Tell el-Dabʿa Area F/II L81 deposit", "countType": "diagnostic sherds + reconstructable vessels", "counts": [ { "label": "diagnostic sherds", "value": ">35,000" }, { "label": "reconstructable vessels", "value": "nearly 2,000" } ], "composition": "Most vessels are local; imports include Cyprus, the Levant, Upper Egypt and Nubia.", "quantificationBoundary": "Counts establish assemblage scale. No source-controlled percentage breakdown is encoded here, so the workbench does not synthesize one.", "sourceIds": [ "avaris-l81-ceramic-deposit" ] }, { "id": "avaris-hvi", "siteId": "avaris", "profileId": "avaris-middle-bronze-hyksos-ceramic-sequence", "label": "Tell el-Dabʿa Area H/VI ceramic study", "countType": "diagnostic sherds", "counts": [ { "label": "diagnostic sherds", "value": ">200,000" } ], "composition": "Tracks late Hyksos to Early New Kingdom changes in proportions and styles across the H/VI sequence.", "quantificationBoundary": "The current project record preserves the published corpus scale and qualitative proportional change, not invented phase percentages.", "sourceIds": [ "avaris-hvi-ceramic-chronology" ] }, { "id": "shechem-field-xiii-cache", "siteId": "shechem", "profileId": "shechem-field-xiii-late-bronze", "label": "Shechem Field XIII sealed basement cache", "countType": "restorable / complete vessels", "counts": [ { "label": "restorable / complete vessels", "value": "~850" } ], "composition": "A coherent Late Bronze cache including local forms and imported Cypriot wares.", "quantificationBoundary": "The count describes the sealed cache, not the total ceramic population of Late Bronze Shechem.", "sourceIds": [ "shechem-duff-2015" ] } ], "abundanceSeries": [ { "id": "qasile-area-c-decorated-philistine", "title": "Tell Qasile Area C — decorated Philistine pottery", "siteLabel": "Tell Qasile", "region": "Southern coastal plain", "period": "Iron I", "mode": "stratigraphic-sequence", "chartType": "line", "metricLabel": "Share of total ceramic assemblage", "unit": "percent", "denominator": "total ceramic assemblage in Area C by stratum", "countingProtocol": "Published mean frequency of decorated Philistine pottery per stratum.", "categories": [ { "id": "decorated-philistine", "label": "Decorated Philistine pottery" } ], "points": [ { "label": "Stratum XII", "order": 1, "values": { "decorated-philistine": 24.0 } }, { "label": "Stratum XI", "order": 2, "values": { "decorated-philistine": 14.3 } }, { "label": "Stratum X", "order": 3, "values": { "decorated-philistine": 14.6 } } ], "interpretation": "The measured share falls sharply from XII to XI and is nearly stable from XI to X. This is a local Area C sequence, not a universal Philistine ceramic curve.", "comparisonBoundary": "Most Area C pottery derives from temples and functionally related buildings, which may overrepresent decorated vessels. Do not compare these percentages mechanically with domestic assemblages elsewhere.", "sourceIds": [ "qasile-mazar-1985", "qasile-gilboa-2006" ] }, { "id": "ashdod-hk-local-philistine", "title": "Ashdod Areas H/K — local tradition vs Philistine style", "siteLabel": "Ashdod", "region": "Southern coastal plain", "period": "Iron I", "mode": "stratigraphic-sequence", "chartType": "line", "metricLabel": "Published pottery share", "unit": "percent", "denominator": "rim-counted pottery from controlled loci in Areas H/K", "countingProtocol": "Published rim-frequency categories; reported percentages are retained exactly and are not rescaled to 100%.", "categories": [ { "id": "local-tradition", "label": "Local Canaanite tradition" }, { "id": "philistine-style", "label": "Philistine style" } ], "points": [ { "label": "Stratum XIII", "order": 1, "values": { "local-tradition": 73.0, "philistine-style": 24.0 } }, { "label": "Stratum XII", "order": 2, "values": { "local-tradition": 52.0, "philistine-style": 47.0 } }, { "label": "Stratum XI", "order": 3, "values": { "local-tradition": 41.0, "philistine-style": 58.0 } } ], "interpretation": "Across these published assemblages, the Philistine-style component increases while the local-tradition component decreases. The curves describe ceramic representation, not a direct ethnic census.", "comparisonBoundary": "The paired percentages do not always total exactly 100 because the published categories and rounding are preserved. Stratum X is described qualitatively as an almost complete disappearance of Philistine pottery and is intentionally not converted to a numeric zero.", "sourceIds": [ "ashdod-vi-2005", "faust-2012-philistia" ] }, { "id": "gezer-stratum-xiii-philistine-anchor", "title": "Gezer Stratum XIII / Tandy Stratum 11 — Philistine 2 anchor", "siteLabel": "Gezer", "region": "Shephelah / Philistia border", "period": "Iron I", "mode": "quantified-anchor", "chartType": "point", "metricLabel": "Share of relevant pottery assemblage", "unit": "percent", "denominator": "relevant pottery assemblage in Fields VI and the Tandy excavation", "countingProtocol": "Published assemblage share for characteristic Philistine pottery at first appearance.", "categories": [ { "id": "philistine-2", "label": "Philistine 2 / Bichrome" } ], "points": [ { "label": "Stratum XIII / 11", "order": 1, "values": { "philistine-2": 5.0 } } ], "interpretation": "This is a quantified first-appearance anchor rather than a frequency curve: characteristic Philistine pottery constitutes 5% of the relevant assemblage at this horizon.", "comparisonBoundary": "A single quantified horizon cannot define a rise/fall curve. It is retained as an anchor and should not be extrapolated to adjacent Gezer strata.", "sourceIds": [ "gezer-2023" ] }, { "id": "iron-i-aegean-style-regional-comparator", "title": "Iron I Aegean-style pottery — published regional comparator", "siteLabel": "Regional comparison", "region": "Philistia and adjacent Shephelah", "period": "Iron I", "mode": "regional-cross-section", "chartType": "bars", "metricLabel": "Published assemblage share", "unit": "percent", "denominator": "site-specific published pottery assemblages; denominator protocols vary by excavation", "countingProtocol": "Published comparative percentages reproduced from the scholarly synthesis; values are shown side-by-side, not normalized or averaged.", "categories": [ { "id": "aegean-style", "label": "Aegean-style pottery" } ], "points": [ { "label": "Tell Qasile", "order": 1, "values": { "aegean-style": 24.0 } }, { "label": "Ashdod", "order": 2, "values": { "aegean-style": 47.0 } }, { "label": "Ekron", "order": 3, "values": { "aegean-style": 41.0 } }, { "label": "Timnah", "order": 4, "values": { "aegean-style": 34.0 } }, { "label": "Beth-Shemesh", "order": 5, "values": { "aegean-style": 5.3 } }, { "label": "Gezer", "order": 6, "values": { "aegean-style": 5.0 } } ], "interpretation": "The comparator visualizes a strong core/periphery contrast in the published sample without turning that contrast into an ethnic or demographic percentage.", "comparisonBoundary": "This is not a chronological series: site horizons and counting protocols are not perfectly synchronized or identical. Ashkelon is omitted because the value in the comparative figure was based on personal communication rather than a published assemblage at the time.", "sourceIds": [ "faust-katz-2011-trough", "qasile-mazar-1985", "ashdod-vi-2005", "gezer-2023" ] } ], "note": "Corpus-size counts, qualitative phase signals, and exact published percentage series are kept distinct. Cross-study percentages retain their source denominator and must not be treated as automatically commensurable." }