Plain Pottery Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East ─ Production, Use, and Social Significance

The evolution and proliferation of plain and predominantly wheel-made pottery presents a characteristic feature of the societies of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean since the fourth millennium B.C. This plain pottery has received little detailed archaeological attention in comparison to aesthetically more pleasing and chronologically sensitive decorated traditions. Yet, their simplicity and standardization suggest they are products of craft specialists, the result of high-volume production, and therefore important in understanding the social systems in early complex societies. This volume<br>-reevaluates the role and significance of plain pottery traditions from both historically specific perspectives and from a comparative point of view;<br>-examines the uses and functions of this pottery in relation to social negotiation and group identity formation;<br>-helps scholars understand cross-regional similarities in development and use.

Claudia Glatz is lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Her main research interests include archaeological approaches to empire, the relationship of craft production and political power, as well as settlement and landscape studies, especially in border and transitional highland-lowland regions. She co-directs the Cide Archaeological Project, a survey on the west-central Turkish Black Sea coast, and the Sirwan Regional Project in the Kurdish Region of Iraq.