Revisiting the Amuq sequence: a preliminary investigation of the EBIVB ceramic assemblage from Tell Tayinat

Abstract

The chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Northern Levant has been constructed around a small group of key sequences and excavations, including the Amuq Sequence. Information about this sequence has predominantly been taken from excavations conducted in the 1930s. The final Early Bronze Age phase in the Amuq (Phase J, EBIVB) was, however, based on a comparatively small sample of ceramics originating only from the site of Tell Tayinat. Excavations of EBIVB levels by the Tayinat Archaeological Project have provided a larger sample of Amuq Phase J ceramics, which are described here, quantified and evaluated in comparison to the original Braidwood collection and to the larger Northern Levantine region.

Keywords:

• Early Bronze Age
• Amuq
• Northern Levant
• ceramics
• quantitative analysis

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which is gratefully acknowledged. This work is also greatly indebted to the support of Tim Harrison, the director of the Tayinat Archaeological Project, who has actively encouraged this research. The author also wishes to thank Lisa Cooper and Stephen Batiuk, who read earlier drafts of this article, as well as Stephen Batiuk for providing much of the GIS data used in the preparation of the maps. The comments of Graham Philip and two anonymous reviewers are also greatly appreciated for their help in improving the article in its final stages.