CERAMICS

Pottery Overview

• Nabataean Painted Fineware

  Perhaps the first occupation of Umm el-Jimal occurs in the Nabataean period, in the second half of the 1st century AD. Thus far, all Nabataean fineware found at the site dates from c. 70/80–100 AD.
  

• Eastern Sigillata A

  One distinctive type of pottery found at Umm el-Jimal is a series of red-slipped tablewares probably produced in northern Syria, of which bowls are the most common form. The color of the slip ranges from very dark red to red-orange, and is occasionally over-fired to a darker hue. Most of the examples at the site date to the 2nd century AD.
  

• Hauran Ware

  This diverse group of pottery made from basaltic clay appears in different forms, from small bowls to cooking pots to large storage jars. It was made in the Hauran (there is one probable known production site in southern Syria), and it was imported to Umm el-Jimal probably primarily in the Nabataean and Roman periods, as well as into the Early Byzantine period. Most sherds are reddish in color, but can be purplish, orangey, or brown. A minority of sherds are decorated with burnished lines and/or applied or molded decorative elements, such as finger-pinched clay under the rim. This ware is very common at Umm el-Jimal, particularly in Late Roman contexts.
  

• Table and Cooking Wares

  In addition to Hauran ware, pottery made outside of the Hauran is also present in this period. The most common forms are cooking pots (left group), jars and jugs (far right), but the pottery types were as varied as that of Hauran ware. Jerash is one known supplier, but the bulk of this pottery cannot be assigned place of production. A scant few examples come from Palestine, in the Galilee.
  

• Jerash Terracotta

  The principal supplier of table and cooking wares in this period was Jerash, a city which lies a little over 60km southwest of Umm-Jimal along known routes. This pottery comes in many forms, such as jars, cooking pots, cups, bowls and large bag-shaped jars, and some wares were produced through the Late Umayyad/Early Abbasid period (8th century). Colors range from orange-red to grey. White paint is common, often presenting in wavy lines or swirls on jars and cooking pots (left) or as horizontal lines on bag-shaped jars (right).
  

• African Red Slip

  African red slip is the dominant imported red-slipped ware of the Byzantine to Early Umayyad period in House XVII-XVIII. It has a long lifespan at the site, with the range of earliest and latest form giving a span of the late 4th to the late 7th century AD. Stamped examples are rare at the site, but one particularly nice example was found in the lower deposits of House XVIII's courtyard and depicts a cherub carrying a wineskin.
  

• Hauran Lamps

  These lamps, which appear mostly in Early Byzantine contexts in House XVII-XVIII, are distinguished by their pentagonal or rectangular handles and their distinctive, if varied decoration. Concentric circles and half-circles are common decorative schemes, but anthropomorphic depictions also occur. The production site of these lamps is unknown, but their distribution and the volcanic components in the lime-rich clay suggest an origin in the Hauran.
  

• Jerash Lamps

  The only type of lamp found in Late Byzantine–Umayyad/Early Abbasid contexts in House XVII-XVIII was made at Jerash. Most of the examples from Umm el-Jimal have zoomorphic handles (left), and in these examples you can see a Greek cross depicted under the animalistic heads. The bases of the lamps sometimes displayed decorative symbols, or anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures, such as the large-footed bird found in House XVIII's courtyard (right).
  

• Red-Painted and Unpainted Wares

  Around the turn of the 8th century, new and distinctive pottery types were introduced in the region. This well made pottery ranges in color from orange to pink to buff in hue. The pottery forms are table and transport/storage wares: mainly small and large jars (left) and jugs. A common decoration is red paint, which can appear in different hues and in a variety of patterns (right). Cups and bowls are also present, in lesser numbers. Two kiln sites have been identified for the painted wares, at Jerash and Baysan, and there may be others not yet discovered.
  

• Coarse Grey Storage Ware

  From the Late Byzantine to Early Abbasid periods, one of the most common types of storage ware was this range of large bowls and basins, which were made at Jerash. The color ranges from light grey to almost black, and the fabric can be semi-fine to very coarse. The body of the vessels was formed by hand, using coils, and the body was smoothed and the rim typically finished on the wheel. Combing or chisel decoration are common motifs. Dolia were also produced in these fabrics, but only one rim has thus far been found at the site.
  

• Coarse Jerash Terracotta

  These two partially reconstructible cookings pots were found in House XVII. They are of a fairly coarse, gritty ware that was produced at Jerash in the Umayyad to Early Abbasid periods. The ware can be red/orange or grey/black in color, and the most common forms are jars and cooking vessels.
  

• Slip-Painted Pottery

  A very small number of glazed sherds have been found at Umm el-Jimal. One of the more distinctive types is a yellow-glazed slip-painted ware, which dates primarily to the Mamluk period. The ware is also present at Umm es-Surab, a badiyah site to the northwest of Umm el-Jimal.
  

• Hand-Made Geometrically Painted Wares (HMGP)

  Hand-made pottery with painted decoration has a very long history of production in the region from the Middle Islamic to Late Ottoman period. At Umm el-Jimal, the pottery ranges significantly in quality and coarseness and in the color of the slip and paint, though a light colored slip and black or red paint are most common. Both wares made locally in the badiyah or Hauran (left), and others produced outside the basaltic plateau (right) have been found at the site. Thus far, the basaltic wares are present in significantly greater numbers. Stratigraphy has thus far not allowed for the dating of this pottery.
  

• Hand-/Mould- and Wheel-Made Basaltic Wares

  Like HMGP, the other Middle Islamic to Late Ottoman pottery types cannot be dated at this time. What is clear from the corpus of later pottery, however, is that the majority of the finds were made from basaltic clay. This is in contrast to the Nabataean/Roman to Early Islamic corpus, where the basaltic pottery is in the minority, present primarily through Hauran ware. In these later phases at the site, a number of new basaltic pottery types appear: Most were manufactured by hand or mould, but some were made on the wheel. One distinctive hand-/mold-made ware was formed using very coarse basaltic clay. These examples show applied decoration on a body sherd, and combing on a large carinated bowl.