Black-Slipped and Burnished Pottery: A Special 7th-Century Technology in Jordan and Syria P. M. Miche `le Daviau 1 and Andrew J. Graham 2 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. Keywords: petrography, distribution, ceramic technology, Ammonite, typology Introduction In his classic study of pottery from Transjordan, Rudolph Dornemann (1983) recognized the evidence for the appearance under Assyrian influence of a fast wheel that allowed for the production of fine wares and certain ceramic forms that required expert skill. One result of this new technology was the develop- ment of several new fabrics including a finely levigated light pink ware used for juglets, small jugs and bottles (Daviau 2001) and a black burnished ware to replace the earlier red slipped and burnished bowls as well as certain slipped and painted wares. In Transjordan, the distribution of black burnished pottery with its specialized technology appears to be concentrated in the territory of the Ammonites. At the time of his soundings on the Amman Citadel, Dornemann (1983, 47) was of the opinion that the better-known pottery from sites in the Amman region could serve as the standard for pottery from Transjordan as a whole. With recent excavation at Jalul, east of Madaba, and at Khirbat al-Mudayna ath-Thamad, 5 km to the south, it is clear that there was a limit to the Ammonite potting tradition; it falls between Jalul and the Wadi ath- Thamad (also sometimes termed the Wadi Wala). Now, a very clear distinction can be made between that tradition and Moabite pottery styles, fabrics, and forming techniques, which are found as far north as Khirbat al-Mudayna on the south bank of the Wadi ath-Thamad (Fig. 1). At the same time, a number of examples of a black burnished ware have been reported from certain sites in Edom, as well as in Phoenicia, the Amuq and elsewhere in Syria, where Neo-Assyrian potting techniques, including the use of a fast wheel, made their appearance in the late Iron Age II (IR II). The faster wheel is related to the introduction of more finely levigated clays than had 1 P. M. Miche ` le Daviau, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 Canada; email: mdaviau@wlu.ca; 2 Andrew J. Graham, Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre, University of Toronto Missisauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd N., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada; email: andrew.graham@utoronto.ca ß Council for British Research in the Levant 2009 Published by Maney DOI 10.1179/175638009X427585 Levant 2009 VOL 41 NO 1 41