The Daily Journalist.
Two markers of regional exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean during the first millennium BCE are the White Painted and Bichrome Wares from Cyprus’s Cypro-Geometric and Cypro-Archaic periods
White Painted and Bichrome Wares are Cypriot-style ceramics produced during the Iron Age that may provide clues about trade in the Eastern Mediterranean at that time. Although these ceramics are often assumed to be imports from Cyprus, excavations in southern Turkey have suggested that some pottery was produced locally, challenging previous assumptions about trade in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Cypro-Geometric III and Cypro-Archaic I (ca. 850-600 BCE) pottery from Tell Tayinat, ancient Kunulua. (1-3) White Painted Ware vertical-sided bowls; (4-7) White Painted Ware barrel jugs; (8-10) Bichrome Ware vertical-sided bowls; (11-12) Bichrome Ware barrel jugs; (13) Bichrome Ware juglet.
Credit: Karacic et al (2016)
When compared with existing datasets, the researchers found that Çatal Höyük and Tell Judaidah may only have had access to pottery imported from Cyprus whereas Tell Tayinat may have made Cypriot-style pottery locally as well as importing it.
Eastern Mediterranean Economic Exchange during the Iron Age: Portable X-Ray Fluorescence and Neutron Activation Analysis of Cypriot-Style Pottery in the Amuq Valley, Turkey.
Usually, pottery styles are expected to become increasingly rare the further away they are found from their origin of production, so these findings suggest a complex pattern of exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Iron Age.
“We were surprised to find that locally produced Cypriot-style pottery was consumed at Tell Tayinat but not the other sites included in our study,” says Karacic. “These results indicate complex social and economic interactions between the Amuq and Cyprus that we are only just beginning to understand for the Iron Age.”