Black-Slipped and Burnished Pottery: A Special 7th-Century Technology in Jordan and Syria

Abstract

Black burnished pottery is a unique fabric with a specialized surface treatment that can be assigned almost exclusively to the 7th century BC. In his classic study of pottery from Transjordan, Dornemann (1983) recognized the appearance of a fast wheel that allowed for the production of fine wares and certain forms that required expert skill. One result of this technology was the decline of red-slipped pottery and the development of light cream ware and black ware. At Tall Jawa (Jordan), black-slipped and burnished pottery reached its zenith in Stratum VII (late 8th-7th century BC; Daviau 2003). This black-slipped pottery has a dark gray fabric with a slightly darker slipped surface. The distribution of black-burnished pottery appears to be limited to the territory of the Ammonites in Transjordan, certain Phoenician sites, and sites in Syria. In certain instances, bowl forms from Tall Jawa suggest strong Assyrian influence and have close parallels with vessels from Nimrud that appear in a highly polished dark gray ware and with the gray wares at Tell Ahmar. At the same time, the majority of black-slipped vessels are local in form. This paper will investigate the petrographic composition of this pottery, techniques used to produce it, the forms in which this refined fabric appears, and its distribution in Jordan and Syria.