1 Ceramic technology at Tell Qarassa North (southern Syria): from “cultures” to “ways of doing” Published as: “Ceramic technology at Tell Qarassa North (southern Syria): from “cultures” to “ways of doing”, in Luca Bombardieri, Anacleto D’Agostino, Guido Guarducci, Valentina Orsi, and Stefano Valentini (eds.), SOMA 2012 Identity and Connectivity: Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy, 1–3 March 2012, in BAR – S2581, Vol. I “Near Eastern Identities”, Archaeopress, Oxford, 17-24. Introduction: stratigraphy and chronology of a protohistoric tell After a diagnostic campaign in 2007, archaeological investigations at Tell Qarassa North have been carried in 2009 and 2010 by a French Mission. Upon a PPNB occupation 1 , a Late Neolithic partially excavated curvilinear structure has been found. The Early Chalcolithic phase is represented by a rounded wall and a structure with a paved entrance flanked by two pillars. The function of the area changed in the Middle Chalcolithic, as indicated by seven ovens aligned at the edge of the mound’s slope. The early chalcolithic house with pillars, still in use in the Middle Chalcolithic, is close to the area occupied by a huge amount of ashes and devoted to some kind of collective cooking activity. Finally, in the Late Chalcolithic all the ovens are covered by a clayish sediment, upon which two architectural sub-phases with quadrangular rooms are recognizable. The result of a few campaigns is a quite large excavated surface and an important amount of data for a region (the Southern Syria) and a period scarcely documented until now. The “common” archaeological practice uses ceramics not only as chronological indicator, but also as cultural marker. The aim of a typology based on shapes and decorations is to organize the sherds according to an Aristotelian plan of “classes”, “categories” and, finally, “cultures”. Beyond the useful classification produced by this method, some incongruities emerge from an essentialist notion of “culture” considered as material expression of a specific human group because “pots are not people” (Kramer 1977). Chronological attributions and regional comparisons: a “classical” approach. Available ceramic materials (almost 12000 sherds) and data on phasing provide relevant information about Neolithic- Chalcolithic transition. The Late Neolithic phase (Fig. 1) is characterized by straight and curved bowls, short necked jars, holemouths, horizontal handles or knobs. Amongst bases, flattened samples are the majority, but chalices and some disc types are also documented. The parallels with the Yarmoukian assemblages are evident, above all for the so-called “Sha’ar Hagolan jars”, red slipped and burnished surfaces and herring-bone incisions. Both the flint assemblage 1 Excavated by a Spanish team under the direction of J. J. Ibanez.