Pottery and society in iron age philistia: Feasting, identity, economy, and gender

The Aegean-inspired pottery of Iron I Philistia has received a great deal of scholarly attention. Many have studied the various influences that shaped it, its development during the Iron I, the ethnic identity of its users, and even its disappearance at the beginning of the Iron II. While constantly changing during the first 150 years after the initial settlement of the new immigrants in Israel's southern coastal plain, this decorated pottery grew in popularity, and steadily increased its percentage in the ceramic assemblages of the Philistine centers. Later, in the early Iron II, this Aegean decorative tradition disappeared. The decorated pottery in Iron II Philistia (Ashdod Ware) was more akin to Phoenician decorative traditions, was applied to different vessel forms, and was far less popular than its predecessor. It is the aim of the present article to reevaluate the developments of the Aegean-inspired pottery during the Iron I and to reexamine the drastic transition from this decorated pottery to a local type of decorated ware in the Iron II, in order to learn about processes of development and change within the society of Philistia and about the relations between the Philistines and their neighbors, both within and without Philistia, at that time.