A Preliminary Study of the Mycenaean IIIC:1 Pottery Assemblages from Tel Miqne-Ekron and Ashdod

Abstract

This article presents a detailed typological analysis of the locally produced Mycenaean IIIC:1 pottery assemblages from Tel Miqne-Ekron and Ashdod. Various aspects of the decoration and technology of this pottery group are examined, along with its stratigraphic context, regional distribution, and subsequent development. This synthesis of the initial phase of the Philistine ceramic corpus allows us to establish firm typological links between this assemblage and the Late Helladic IIIC Early and earlier part of the Late Helladic IIIC Middle periods in the Aegean, and with the transitional Late Cypriote IIC/IIIA and Late Cypriote IIIA periods on Cyprus. In absolute terms, we propose a date during the second quarter of the 12th century B.C.E. for the beginning of Philistine settlement on the southern Coastal Plain of Israel. The typology, chronology, and regional distribution of Mycenaean IIIC:1 pottery refute the notion that it was produced as a substitution for the Late Bronze Age Aegean imports. In addition, the identification of the stylistic development of this ware in Philistia, paralleled in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, indicates continued contacts between the two regions in the first half of the 12th century B.C.E.