Tell el-Ghaba and its Integration into the Trade Network of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E. A Comparative Study of its Non-local Pottery

LUPO, SILVIA-CLAUDIA KOHEN

Viena

Conferencia; Vienna 2: Ancient Egyptian Ceramics in the 21st century; 2012

Universidad de Viena

Tell el-Ghaba lies in the northern coastal plain of the Sinai Peninsula, in what once was the eastern Nile Delta. It was a frontier outpost strategically located on relatively high ground in an overall low area, next to the Pelusiac branch of the Nile and on the route that linked Egypt with Palestine. Tell el-Ghaba's settlement was part of the expansionary policy towards the Levant adopted by the kings of Dynasty 26 (7th-6th centuries B.C.E.) at a time when the commercial exchange across the eastern Mediterranean was at its peak. By studying its non-local pottery and local imitations of imported vessels, we intend to reconstruct the interaction that Tell el-Ghaba had: 1) with the trade network of the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. Tell el-Ghaba's repertoire includes fragments of Levantine storage jars and mortaria, fragments of Samian and Chios amphorae and Black on Red jugs and juglets from Cyprus, among others. These imports probably arrived at a port in the Delta and were then introduced into the site through the Pelusiac branch of the Nile and/or they might have arrived by land through the south of Palestine. The port of Ruqeish, in North Sinai, probably played a key role, as it appears to have been an intermediate stop for the vessels departing from Ashkelon and was, at the same time, involved in the caravan trade through Sinai, combining the carriage of goods by sea and their distribution by land.  Local imitations of imported vessels include Phoenician torpedo-type storage jars, mushroom-lipped jars and decanters elaborated in Nile silt clays.   2) with major neighboring sites (Defenneh, Qedwa and Tell el-Maskhuta) that were erected by the Saite kings in their plan to protect the northeastern border of the country. The study revealed that although Tell el-Ghaba may have had contacts with these sites, the material demonstrated characteristics that were not only similar to those of such settlements, but that also had distinguishing characteristics of its own, i.e., the lack of Attic pottery and the comparatively large amount of Cypriot Black on Red juglets.   3) with Upper Egypt. A few fragments of jars elaborated in marl clays, whose center of production was the Qena/Ballas region, were found at Tell el-Ghaba. The dearth of these items, their fine manufacture and the context in which they were found at the site appear to reflect that these were luxury items brought in on an irregular basis by high-ranking officials.