The Pottery of Babylonian-period Jerusalem: Stratum 9/10 at the Summit of the Southeastern Hill

Abstract

The 2005–2008 excavations conducted by Eilat Mazar in Area G at the Southeastern Hill (‘the Summit of the City of David’) included stratified dump layers on the eastern slope. Reevaluation of the pottery uncovered in the three layers of the dump designated by Mazar as Babylonian Stratum 9/10 show that it consisted mainly of Iron IIC types with a few later types and that while some of the new types became popular during the Early Persian period, others either did not become common or did not continue. This, then, is a transitional assemblage, representing the 6th century BCE, with Iron Age types appearing alongside new variants. About a quarter of the bowls recovered from Stratum 9/10 are ‘non-typical’ for Iron IIC types but are not typically Persian either. We therefore suggest that they be identified as ‘Babylonian types’.