Levantine Pottery

Iron Age IIA Juglet

By James Osborn

This tiny juglet belongs to the early first millennium BCE, or Iron Age IIA period. Historically, this is around the time that Israel was first formed as a state under the United Monarchy of David and Solomon. These little vessels are referred to by two different names. The first is Cypro-Phoenician Ware. This term indicates our poor understanding of its geographic place of manufacture: individual vessels could originate in Cyprus, but also might come from the Phoenicians who lived on the Levantine coast across from Cyprus and north of Israel in modern-day Lebanon. Scholars more frequently use the descriptive term Black-on-Red Ware, which reflects the geometric black circles painted onto the red slip, or coating, of the vessel. A juglet this size would presumably have been used to hold perfumes or other precious liquids.