New evidence on the provenance of Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (RLW): Petrographic, elemental and Sr-Nd isotope analysis


Kibaroglu M., KOZAL E., Kluegel A., Hartmann G., Monien P.

JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE-REPORTS, cilt.24, ss.412-433, 2019 (AHCI) identifier identifier

Özet

The Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (RLW) is a distinctive Late Bronze Age ware produced from high quality red clay with an array of particular forms and a polished red surface. It has a wide distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly including central Anatolia, Cilicia, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt, indicating the important role of the ware in displaying possible cultural, commercial, and political interconnections. Its unique and identical character throughout its distribution area still complicates the identification of its provenance. Therefore, it has been the subject of numerous archaeological and archaeometric studies. In previous archaeological studies, a Cypriot origin for the ware has been proposed and generally accepted. In comparison to archaeological research, Cyprus and/or Anatolia are suggested as the origin of RLW in previous archaeometric studies. However, the latest discoveries from Anatolia suggests that the production place of RLW could be located in Rough Cilicia in southern Anatolia, as new RLW forms have been identified at Kilise Tepe level III (1500-1300 BCE).