Cooking ware from Northern Jordan: preliminary report on the pottery

Cooking vessels collected during three surveys that took place in 2014 and 2015 around the ancient settlements of Abila, Gadara and Umm al-Jimal in the north of Jordan are the subject of this paper. The fragmentation and poor surface preservation of the sherds from this assemblage resulted in the study being focused on an analysis of clay fabrics in relation to vessel forms and their provenance. An examination of fabrics grouped into wares and cooking vessel forms demonstrated an apparent shift from wares produced in the region around Lake Tiberias, which had dominated at the sites of Abila and Gadara until the 4th century CE, to wares produced from the 5th century on most likely in Gerasa. Thus, the results of pottery studies from the three sites located at the core of the Austrian Decapolis survey project shed light on the pattern of changes in regional ceramic trade in the Decapolis and adjoining regions.