Classifications of Pottery Types of the Ancient Kingdoms/ City-states of Yemen: a Comparative Study

Authors

1 M.A. student at Faculty of Archaeology, Department of Egyptology, Cairo University (EGYPT)

2 Professor of Ancient History of Egypt and Near East Department of Egyptology, Cairo University (EGYPT)

3 Assistant Professor of Ceramics and Prehistoric Archaeology (EGYPT)

4 Professor of Ancient Egyptian Archaeology Department of Egyptology, Cairo University (EGYPT)

Abstract

This paper reviews some of the classifications of ancient Yemen pottery types from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. It also applies these classifications to some examples of pottery mentioned in the analytical studies and reports of the archaeological missions. This study analogizes these classifications and highlight the importance of applying archaeometrical analysis to some pottery samples, which may lead to new results such as type 4100 – Jar 1 of the Van Beek classification.This jar was thought to be imported from the Dʿmit kingdom based on sample analysis of this type;After further examination and the use of new techniques, its local production was proved.
Through this study,problems of multiple classifications and the in consistency of most of them are evident with all the features and types of pottery discovered at the excavation sites, leading to new classifications, including more new types discovered at the excavation sites. This negatively affected  all the types of ancient Yemen pottery and decorations. Therefore, this paper will focus on presenting and analogizing some of these important classifications that have been adopted at excavation sites, displaying them with some pottery types from those sites and the extent to which the classification matches the pottery discovered in different sites.

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References

References:
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