Technological continuity and change in Late Bronze and Iron Age Plain Ware pottery from Sirkeli Höyük (Cilicia, southern Anatolia)

Abstract

The period from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1190 BCE) to the Iron Age (c. 1190–330 BCE) in the eastern Mediterranean is characterized by upheavals in political and socio-economic structures, accompanied by changes in material culture such as pottery production. Plain Ware is one of the most common pottery types found in Plain Cilicia in southern Anatolia during the Late Bronze and the Iron Ages and displays typological and stylistic variations during these periods. In this work, we examined the Plain Ware from Sirkeli Höyük, one of the key settlements in Plain Cilicia, using petrographic, mineralogical (XRPD), microtextural (SEM-EDX), and chemical analysis (LA-ICP-MS). The main objective is to determine the source of raw materials and to investigate Plain Ware production including clay procurement, clay processing, and firing techniques. Our archaeometric results suggest that the vessels were produced from calcareous clay available in the Ceyhan Plain. We have observed continuity in the methods of Plain Ware production from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age with a minor change in the Iron Age.