Archaeometrical Analysis of Pottery production at EB III-IVA Ebla and Tell Tuqan

This paper reports on the characterization of several potsherds of different purpose ceramic wares from Ebla site. All potsherds belong to the Early Bronze Age and they were collected during the excavations of the Royal Palace (Palace G). In particular, the fragments belonging to the Early Bronze Age IVA, represented the most diffused pottery in the Palace: simple wares, cooking and preservation wares. The aim of this study is to identify the technological features and the differences in their composition. Further, a wide set of potsherds collected during the excavations of Tell Tuqan in 2009-2010 were analysed for comparison purposes. These fragments belong to the Early Bronze Age III and represent the same types of the ceramic wares from Ebla. The comparison between the potteries dealt with the archeometric studies to identify the differences and/or the similarities in the manufacturing techniques (i.e. firing temperature), the nature and treatment of raw materials.