Archaeometric analysis on ceramic material from the Khalet al-Jam’a necropolis (Bethlehem, West Bank)

Since 2014 Sapienza-Palestinian MOTA-DACH Expedition has started systematic excavations in the site of Khalet al-Jam’a, a necropolis located South-East of Bethlehem, very close to the well-known Church of the Nativity (Nigro et al., 2015, 2017). The necropolis included at least 100 shaft tombs, used for a very long period of time from the Early Bronze Age up to the beginning of the Iron Age (2300-700 BC), suggesting the importance of the site for the Bethlehem town (Nigro, 2015). Optical microscopy in thin section (OM), X-ray Powder diffraction (XRPD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy system (SEM-EDS) are applied on ceramic materials from the tomb C5, dated in the Middle Bronze Age, to define the raw material used in the production and the technological level reached by this ancient culture. Preliminary results show that the ceramics were produced with a calcareous clay characterized by the predominant presence of fragments of limestone, crystals of calcite, dolomite, and rare fragments of sedimentary siliceous rocks, quartz and fossils. The extreme variability of the matrix color suggests that the firing process was performed in uncontrolled atmosphere conditions. The mineralogical assemblages and the microstructure analysis allow estimating a variable firing temperature among samples. For some samples, the presence of abundant calcite, clay minerals and the absence of neo-formed minerals, suggests a firing temperature lower than 800 °C (Medeghini & Nigro, 2017), whereas for others the co-occurrence of calcite, gehlenite and wollastonite allows estimating the temperature in the range 850-950 °C (Cultrone et al., 2001). The results of the study enable a preliminary characterization of pottery and contribute to improve the knowledge about specific ceramic production used in funerary contexts.