Chapter 5 Cypriot Pottery from the Second Millennium bce at Tell Keisan in the Lower Galilee (Israel)
Mariusz Burdajewicz
Tell Keisan, situated about 8 km to the southeast of the mound of ‘Akko, is one of the largest tells in northern Israel.1 Excavations at the site, conducted by a team from the École biblique et archéologique française in Jerusalem, have yielded rich pottery material from the Iron Age and the Hellenistic and Byzan- tine periods. The very fast publication of the excavation results (Briend and Humbert 1980) was pioneering in all scientific respects, focusing not only on the Lower Galilee but on the broader region of the southern Levant. Iron Age and later pottery (from the eleventh–second centuries bce and the Byzantine period) was presented and discussed in the final publication, which soon be- came a standard reference work for studies on the pottery found in southern Phoenicia, including present-day northern Israel. This publication also pro- vided a better understanding of cultural relations and trade patterns between the Levantine coast and Cyprus, one of the subjects to which Michal Artzy is deeply devoted in her scholarly activity.
Table 5.1 Cypriot Wares at Tell Keisan
Ware/Area Area B Area D Area A Surface Total
Bichrome 1 1 – – 2 Base Ring 17 15 4 2 37 Bucchero 2 – – – 2 Composite 1 – – – 1 Monochrome 3 3 – – 6 Red-on-Black 1 – – 1 2 White Painted 14 6 2 1 23 White Slip 49 29 1 2 81 Total 88 54 7 6 155
1 It is a great pleasure to mention that I owe my first visit to Tell Keisan in 1992 to the kindness of Michal Artzy, who not only arranged my trip but also accompanied me on the tell.
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Ware Bichrome Base Ring Bucchero Composite Monochrome RoB White Painted Slip White Total Table 5.2 Table