The Early Iron Age IIA in the Judean Shephelah: A Petrographic View According to Pottery from Khirbet Qeiyafa and Khirbet al-Ra‘i

In the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the archaeological evidence relating to the early Iron Age IIA (early 10th c. BCE) in the Judean Shephelah, mainly due to the excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa and Khirbet al-Ra‘i. This paper will examine this period through the lens of petrographic analysis of the relevant pottery assemblages of the two sites. The new results of petrographic analysis of 48 mostly restorable early Iron Age IIA pottery vessels from Khirbet al-Ra‘i will be discussed in detail; these results will be compared to the previously published petrographic analysis of early Iron Age IIA pottery from Khirbet Qeiyafa (108 samples). The paper will also provide analysis of a group of Iron Age I pottery, including Philistine pottery and other forms, from Khirbet al-Ra‘i. The assemblages are relatively homogenous in their fabrics and mostly locally made, with only few imports (mostly from the southern or central coast of Israel). However, the types of local clays that were used in the two sites were somewhat different.