ALONG THE SHORELINE  WAYS OF CONNECTION BETWEEN THE LEVANTINE COAST AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-10-14

During history, the Mediterranean Sea has represented a crossroad of peoples and cultures. In some cases, this net of interconnections provoked the spread of styles and ideas that can be followed along the shores of the Mediterranean coasts. Some of these manifestations can be clearly identified in the pottery repertoire of the Early Bronze I on the Levantine coast, where traces ofentanglement can be detected in the ceramics horizon dated to that period. The creation and diffusion of ceramic vessels provide information regarding three aspects of the social life. On the one hand, the quantitative and spatial analysis of the shapes indicate social practices of food behaviour, from the storing to cooking and consuming of solids and liquids. Secondly, the recurrence of specific decorations or styles gives information regarding the fashion and the preferences expressed by people. Finally, the sharing of a particular “ways-of-doing” in a wider area strongly determined the circulation of shared working practices. The paper intends to analyse the Early Bronze ceramics repertoires of the coastal sites along the easternmost shore of the Mediterranean Sea, from the Southern Levantine coast to Lebanon and Southern Syria, with the aim to recognize and isolate the presence of shared elements that can better define the bond between the different coastal communities.

Author(s): Casadei, Eloisa (Sapienza University of Rome)