These issues are especiallv well-illustrated by fhe Gulf Olmec, one of the earliest complex cliiefdoms in Mesoamerica. The archaeological population groups that we now know in the early Iron I highland villages of Canaan meet many of the tests for a distinct, new ethnic group. The pottery of Palestine at the close of the second millennium BCE, is notoriously ugly. Yet the quality of the ceramic repertoire did rebound. A study of how a vessel is made and its clays, selected and treated is vital in any consideration of pots and peoples.
Ceramic technology permits a move beneath the shape of the rim or the decoration of the surface.
The main periods of the fortress's life reflect the ebb and flow of the region's Iron Age history as control of the region shifted between the Judahites, Edomites, and Assyrians. In the final stratum of the Iron Age, 'En Haseva sheltered a small shrine from which excavators extracted assemblage of arresting clay and stone cult vessels. The restorition of these artifacts from what was probably an Edomite cultic installation adds further celebrity to what was one of the most immense fortresses of biblical times. Recalling the finds at the Edomite shrine of Horvat Qitmit, the sculptures probably depicted human figures and represented their donors in the divine presence. Photograph courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.