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Ceramics offer insights into Iron Age trade in Eastern Mediterranean

"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," said researcher Steven Karacic.

By Brooks Hays
An illustration showcases the fragments of Cypriot-style pottery analyzed in the survey of Turkish Iron Age ceramics. Photo by Karacic et al./PLoS ONE
An illustration showcases the fragments of Cypriot-style pottery analyzed in the survey of Turkish Iron Age ceramics. Photo by Karacic et al./PLoS ONE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Chemical analysis of Turkish pottery suggests a complex pattern of trade existed in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Iron Age.

A team of scientists from Florida State University and the University of Chicago blasted Cypriot-style ceramics -- including White Painted and Bichrome Wares collected from three different locations in southern Turkey -- with X-rays to reveal their unique chemical composition.

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The analysis revealed the origins of different ceramic pieces and showed the demand for Cypriot-style ceramics among those living in Tell Tayinat, an ancient urban center in the Hatay province of southeastern Turkey, required both importation and local production. Other excavation sites featured only pottery made in Cyprus and shipped to Turkey.

Researchers believe the demand for Cypriot-style pottery among affluent inhabitants in Tell Tayinat may have inspired local artisans to begin making the pottery themselves, or encouraged Cyprus-based potters to resettle in the vicinity of the city.

Researchers detailed their analysis of Turkish pottery in the journal PLoS ONE.

"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," Steven Karacic, a researcher at Florida State, said in a news release. "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."

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