Student: J. Pae RS121: Fall, 1994
1) Archaeological Information
At the beginning of Iron I, the form and style of the Late Bronze potteries remains but these begin to disappear slowly by the Eleventh Century and typical Iron Age treatment appears. In the Iron Age, the painted decoration is used sparsely and burnishing of slips reappears while the potteries gradually become globular.
Spouted strainer jug is found in the Iron II both in the North and South Kingdom. It is wheel turned while the handles and spout are made by hand, pierced, slipped, hand-burnished and fired. It has globular body with slight carination below the midpoint. Trough-like spout extends upwards with strainer holes in body where spout joins. It has tall, narrow, concave-sided neck with horizontal ridge above the midpoint. Its rim is inverted on interior and exterior, with exterior thickening to form triangular molded lip. It has a ring base and its handles are always at the right angle to spout. The cross section of its handles show that the handles are lentoid.
In Iron I ( 1200 - 1000 BCE) and Iron II A - B (1000 - 721 BCE) , there are trough like strainer spouts found both in South and North. Amiran designates them as forerunners to Iron II C spouted strainer jug and believes it is derived from these forerunners. However, these "forerunner" jugs have common only in spout and differ in all other respects. There is one Iron I jug with basket handle of the Middle Bronze potteries and the other one is found with jug handle. Iron I forerunner has painted handles and spout decorated with black and red metopes. In Iron II A - B, the trough like strainer spout jugs have small body, trumpet base and wide neck while the ridges disappeared. It seems like there are great variations among forerunners regards to their shape and design which might have lead to the II C spouted strainer jug. However, it is interesting to note that the handles are always attached right angle to the spout from the very earliest development and are still preserved in the later strainer jugs. It appears that the function of these jugs did not changed and remained basically the same. This right angle attachment allows the individual hold and drink from the spout easily.
Amiran relates these spouted strainer jugs with Pilgrim flask because of the way the handles are attached. Like Pilgrim flask, the handles descend from the middle of the neck to the shoulder and the crossection of the handles is lentoid. Its connection with Pilgrim flask may indicate that these two potteries share the same origin. But it can also be assumed that these techniques were widely used independently to each other. The significance of their similarities related to their common origin is hard to reconstruct because of the lack of information. But it is significant that this techniques was still used in the Iron Age.
2) Historical Context
Iron Age is contemporary with the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings in Jewish scriptures. There is no definite cultural discontinuity between Thirteenth and Twelfth Century BCE though there are archaeological evidence in the hill country and coastal region that suggest the appearance of Israelites and Philistines. During Iron II, Israel state was divided into Judah and Israel (South and North respectively) . It is interesting that the forerunners of the spouted strainer jugs are found in both South and North; it seems to indicate that there was no explicit cultural difference between two states.
The exact function of this jug is hard to reconstruct but it is suggested that these were used for the drinking of a liquid which needed to be strained. Similar spouted sieve jugs with longer and narrower straw-like spouts have been excavated from Gordion in Turkey which dated to the period between Eighth and the Fourth Century BCE close to Iron II period. The textual sources indicate these were used for drinking of beer (Ackerman and Braunstein). Albright also suggests that these jugs were used to strain out barley husks in Philistine culture. There is no evidence that Israelites brewed beer though they did grow barley. The position of the handles at the right angle to the spout does however, facilitate drinking from the spout as mentioned above.
The strainer jug seems to indicate the possible contact of Palestinian with Philistine (if the connection between spouted strainer jugs and beer jug is assumed). Albright discusses about drinking bouts of Philistine and mentions the ubiquity of these beer jugs in connection with Philistine. Further, the strainer jug seems to reflect the reminiscence of Egyptian culture because it is suggested that Egyptian drank beer while Palestinian especially, Israelite drank wine.
3) Parallels and Plates.
* The University Museum : strainer jug, Beth Shan, 29-103-128
* ÒForerunnersÓ South Iron I Amiran Plate. 85
North Iron I Amiran Plate. 84
Bichrome Megiddo VI: Meg.II, pl . 86:1
South Iron II A-B Amiran Plate 87
North Iron II A-B Amiran Plate 86
* South Iron II C - Amiran Pl. 89 Lachish III pl.87:270, 89:361
* North Iron II C - Amiran Pl. 88 Hazor V A H.III-IV, pl CCXXVIII:1
* Iron II C - Israel JM 233-68
4) Bibliography
- Albright, William F., ARCHAEOLOGY OF PALESTINE
Peter Smith, 1971
- Amiran, Ruth., ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE HOLY LAND
Rutgers University Press., 1970
- Frances, James., IRON AGE AT BETH SHAN
The University of Penn. Museum., 1966
- Ackerman, A., Braunstein, S., ISRAEL IN ANTIQUITY
Jewish Museum., 1982