Yanik Tepe, Shengavit, and the Khirbet Kerak Ware

Abstract

The problem dealt with in the following note, concisely worded in the title, has been occupying the attention of many scholars for quite some time, but seems now to have anchored at a haven, from which further research is already in progress. It may be considered a generally consented assumption, that the phenomenon of the Kh. Kerak Ware (which comprises all the occurrences of this distinctive ware, from Tabara el Akrad Levels IV–I, Amuq Phase H, Hama Niveau K5 in the north, to all the sites in Palestine, as far south as Jericho Tomb A, Tomb F4, etc.) is part of a much larger phenomenon, which stretches over a much wider area. It is evident that we cannot understand a single element, the Kh. Kerak Ware, unless we see it as belonging to a whole phenomenon. It is the great affinity, indeed almost homogeneity of the pottery, both shapes, surface treatment and decoration, which unifies the whole wide range of separated regions, from Transcaucasia (the Kura-Arax culture of B. Kuftin), Armenia and Azerbaidjan, through Eastern and Central Anatolia, to the whole length of the Levant, into one phenomenon.