Ancient Cookware from the Levant - An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective - Gloria London
21. Late Ottoman/Mandate and Recent Handmade Ceramics
Ancient Cookware from the Levant - An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective - Gloria London
Gloria London [+]
Independent Scholar
Description
Handmade pottery has proved remarkably resilient. It has survived into the 21st century at a handful of villages in the Levant and Cyprus. The Arabic names for traditional cookware, other pots, and household artifacts made of clay vary considerably within the small region of the Levant. Greek names vary across the island of Cyprus. The variety and abundance of contemporaneous terms in two small areas, Cyprus and the Levant, mimics the large number of words for cookware mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Variation in the ancient terminology likely results from many subtle distinctions concerning how and where pots were made and finished, by whom, and how they were used to heat meat or dairy foods. In addition, diachronic and regional preferences add to the wealth of names for cooking pots used daily and for special occasions when the family and community came together.