Tracing the Provenance of Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Ware (RLW): Petrographic, Geochemical and Sr-Nd Isotope Analysis (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 2025
The Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1600–1200 BCE) was a period characterized by intensive intercultural connectivity and long-distance exchange. In understanding these networks through material remains, ceramic plays a crucial role. From this perspective, Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (RLW), a distinctive ceramic assemblage marked by its fine red fabric, well-burnished lustrous surfaces, and unique forms, is of significant importance in understanding material culture exchange among the major polities of Anatolia, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt. Despite its vast geographical distribution, the production place of this ware has been the subject of scholarly debate, with differing hypotheses suggesting regions such as Northern Cyprus and Rough Cilicia in Southern Anatolia. This study aimed to contribute to the debate on the origin of RLW and to enhance our understanding of Late Bronze Age connectivity in the Eastern Mediterranean by employing a multi-analytical approach, integrating petrographic, geochemical (elemental), and isotopic (Sr-Nd) analyses. Archaeometric analysis of RLW ceramic samples (n = 58) from key archaeological sites, including Kilise Tepe, Boğazköy/Ḫattuša, and Tell Atchana/Alalakh in Anatolia, was compared with reference clay samples (n = 84) collected from Cyprus and Southern Anatolia, including the Göksu Valley. in Sothern Anatolia, particularly those from the Göksu Valley, show strong compositional affinities with the RLW samples, providing convincing evidence to support the hypothesis of a Rough Cilician origin. This archaeometric evidence underlines the Göksu Valley’s pivotal role in Late Bronze Age trade networks in the Eastern Mediterranean. The historical harbor town of Ura, mentioned in textual sources, may have served as a central hub for the trade of RLW, linking Anatolia with Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt.
After Iraq and Afghanistan, the current Syrian and Iraqi situation, under the ISIS threat, is alerting again the international academic community. Even so, for too many years, archaeologists used to work only as punctual consultants for NGO's and the main documentation produced consisted on monthly inventory of the damages. Since the lasts tragic events which have torn apart the middle-east, the academic community got involved significantly, and we can now consider a new archaeological discipline focusing on the study of the damages. Satellite, aerial and drone imagery data is now allowing us to go back in time and record the impacts of looting and military occupation over time on archaeological sites. Using these technologies, combined into a Geographic Information System, we will see how practices evolved from scratching the surface to smashing cultural heritage figures within a few decades. This paper also suggests to go further than diachronic monitoring and address a spatial analysis of these damages to identify areas to be excavated in the future. Using analytic tools, we will consider concentration and repartition information to highlight the strong-potential areas for scientific activity. This paper will focus on two regional case studies, firstly with an examination of the thirty years-old damages from the Sharizor plain, next to Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan. Then, in the light of the first results we will consider the south section of Syrian Euphrate, in the district of Deir-e-Zor. Within those two regions, focus on preeminent archaeological site will allow to consider in details the implemented methodology.
European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics - EMAC , 2019
Sirkeli Höyük is one of the largest settlements in Cilician Plain (modern Ceyhan Plain) located in South Anatolia. The site was inhabited from Chalcolithic (ca. 5000 BC) to the Hellenistic period (300 – 100 BC). Bronze and Iron Age layers are the most substantial occupations of the settlement. In addition, the materials play a key role in not only in chronological and historical investigations but also in understanding the cultural relations of Cilicia with Central Anatolia and the neighbouring regions including Cyprus. Among various wares, Plain ware is chosen for this study as it is the most common and characteristic ware of Late Bronze and Iron Ages. In this paper we will report results of archaeometric analysis carried out on Plain (n=50) and Drab ware (n=10) from Sirkeli Höyük as well as local clay samples collected from the Ceyhan Plain. The aim is to identify the possible clay sources of the ware and to explore its production technologies throughout Bronze and Iron Ages to examine continuations and/or discontinuations in these aspects. To this end, we used LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectroscopy) for elemental analysis, Petrography, XRD (X-ray diffraction) and (SEM) Scanning Electron Microscope techniques for identification of mineralogical composition and textural analysis of the samples. As a result, this paper reports about the identified possible clay sources and production technologies of Plain Ware together with the variations occurring due to chronological, geographical and geological factors.