Gunneweg, Jan, Perlman, Isadore, Dothan, Trude and Gitin, Seymour 1986, On the Origin of Pottery from Tel Miqne(Ekron) Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 264, 3-16 Mycenaean pottery is, as usually accepted, a product of import either from mainland Greece or from Cyprus. At Ekron, one of the five Philistine cities in Israel, a considerable amount of MYC IIIC:1b pottery was found, and it was thought a good opportunity to test this pottery for origin. Forty-four samples of Mycenaean and Philistine Bichrome pottery were subjected to instrumental neutron activation analysis at the Archaeometry Unit at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to learn where they were made. The analytical data showed beyond doubt that MYC IIIC:1b pottery was locally made at Ekron. This "chemical finger print" became therewith a reference for other wares. The Ekron MYC IIIC:1b pottery which "looks" similar to that of Ashdod, analyzes differently, showing that the potters shared a common cultural affinity as well as a "know-how" to manufacture this ware with different clays. Comments? Please write: Jan Gunneweg To return, click Archaeometry abstracts of our work or click "BACK" or click the Homepage . Jan Gunneweg Ph.D., The Hebrew University, revised November 2005