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Not so coarse, nor always plain – the earliest pottery of Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse ,
Peter M.M.G. Akkermans  and
Johannes van der Plicht
Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse*
Affiliation:
1Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology, Box 9515, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands (Email: onieuw@xs4all.nl; p.m.m.g.akkermans@arch.leidenuniv.nl)
Peter M.M.G. Akkermans
Affiliation:
1Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology, Box 9515, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands (Email: onieuw@xs4all.nl; p.m.m.g.akkermans@arch.leidenuniv.nl)
Johannes van der Plicht
Affiliation:
1Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology, Box 9515, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands (Email: onieuw@xs4all.nl; p.m.m.g.akkermans@arch.leidenuniv.nl) 2Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands (Email: J.van.der.Plicht@rug.nl)
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Abstract

The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria offers a superb stratified sequence passing from the aceramic (pre-pottery) to pottery-using Neolithic around 7000 BC. Surprisingly the first pottery arrives fully developed with mineral tempering, burnishing and stripey decoration in painted slip. The expected, more experimental-looking, plant-tempered coarse wares shaped by baskets arrive about 300 years later. Did the first ceramic impetus come from elsewhere?

Keywords

Upper MesopotamiaSyriaNeolithicpotteryPPN
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 323 , March 2010 , pp. 71 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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