A Shade of Red. Red Slip Ware at Zincirli and Its Connections with Northern Syria and Southern Anatolia in the Iron Age

Abstract

This paper presents new ceramic data from the excavations conducted by the Chicago-Tübingen Expedition at Zincirli, the capital of the Iron Age kingdom of Sam’al, in south-eastern Turkey. Excavations in the lower town and on the citadel mound revealed a small but relevant collection of Red Slip Ware dated to the local Iron Age II and III. The local pottery inventory shows clear connections with the material culture of northern inland Syria, especially with the sites of the Amuq, the Idlib and Aleppo plains and the Euphrates area. The sample of Zincirli shows that Red Slip is abundant and associated to Cypriot-style painted wares in the early Iron Age II (9th – middle of 8th century BCE) and tends to decrease, to almost disappear, in the Iron Age III (mid 8th – 7th century BCE). In this later period the pottery production seems to be gradually affected by the Assyrian presence in the region, as Sam’al is included into the realm of the Neo-Assyrian empire, with the adoption of some new pottery types and glazed decorations, and the abandonment of the local red slip treatment.