The Spirit of Clay: "Edomite Pottery" and Social Awareness in the Late Iron Age

Abstract

Within the research of frontier areas, scholars have developed an approach that sees the frontier as a zone of interaction that plays host to complex relations with the external world. The tension between frontier dwellers and the external and internal worlds is reflected in the archaeological record of frontier zones, indicating not only the influence of the center and selective adoption of central motifs, but also preservation of unique regional characteristics. First identified by Nelson Glueck, decorated "Edomite Pottery" became a fossil directeur at Edomite and Negev sites dated to the end of the Iron Age II. While the typology, chronology, and distribution of the "Edomite" vessels have been analyzed at length, hardly any discussion of the sociopolitical significance of this pottery has yet been undertaken. This article analyzes decorated "Edomite Pottery" in light of the renewed study of the material culture from Tel ʿAroer in the Negev and with an emphasis on recent anthropological approaches.

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