Pottery Production on the Northern Lebanese Coast during the Early Bronze Age II—III: The Petrographic Analysis of the Ceramics from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida

• Published in: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Vol. 355; no. 355; pp. 51 - 83
• Main Authors: Badreshany, Kamal, Genz, Hermann
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Missoula, MT American Schools of Oriental Research 01.08.2009; American Schools of Oriental Research and Scholars Press
• Subjects: Ancient civilizations of the near east; Archaeology; Art and archaeology; Bronze age; Calcite; Carbonates; Cartography; Ceramics; Field of view; Generalities; Geology; Laboratory technics; Limestones; Marl; Material culture; Mesopotamia and Near East; Methods; Petrology; Phoenicia; Physical and chemical analysis; Pottery; Prehistoric era; Provenience; Quartz; Research principies; Early Bronze Age; Lebanon; Levant; Asia; Site; Sherd; Ceramology; Petrography; Geology; Excavation; Ceramics; Corpus; Source; Economy; materials; Analysis; Production; Technique; Typology; Manufacturing techniques
• ISSN: 0003-097X; 2769-3600; 2161-8062; 2769-3589
• DOI: 10.1086/BASOR25609334

Lying on the Lebanese coast approximately 22 km north of Byblos (60 km north of Beirut), the Early Bronze Age site of Tell Fadous-Kfarabida was discovered in the spring of 2004. The recent extraction of large quantities of soil created extensive archaeological sections, which were the focus of "rescue" investigations conducted by the American University of Beirut (AUB) during two seasons in the summers of 2004 and 2005. Over 4,000 ceramic sherds collected during those seasons were published in detail. This paper examines the information gained from the petrographic analysis of a group of 27 sherds from this corpus, which defined and quantified their mineralogical components and investigated their microtopography. This information will be applied to better understand the provenience of the raw materials and its economic implications, as well as in considering the techniques associated with the production of the ceramic objects during this period.