Beth Yeraḥ and Philia Wares: Two Case Studies of Anatolian Connections with the Levant and Cyprus in the Third Millennium BCE / "כלי בית-ירח" ו"כלי תרבות פיליה": שני מקרי מבחן לקשרי אנטוליה עם ארצות הלבאנט וקפריסין באלף השלישי לפני הספירה

• Published in: ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה 2003-01, Vol.כז, p.161-168
• Main Authors: נגבי, אורה, Negbi, Ora
• Format: Article
• Language: Hebrew
• ISSN: 0071-108X

The so-called Beth Yeraḥ and Philia wares have long been considered by East Mediterranean archaeologists as two problematic cases of "pots and people." The validity of previous attempts to regard both wares as indicators of migrations from the north requires further study, because satisfactory data on the extent and nature of Anatolian involvement in the Levant and Cyprus during the third millennium BCE are still lacking. The main aim of this paper is to determine whether there is any migration model which could be applied to each of the case studies under discussion. As far as the first case is concerned, scholars wonder how it came about that Beth Yeraḥ ware, a selected repertory of pottery vessels akin to remote Transcaucasian /East-Anatolian forerunners, was first produced at several sites in the ʿAmuq Plain (Phase H) and contemporary EB III coastal sites in North Syria (such as Ugarit IIIA1) as early as the twenty-eighth century BCE. On the other hand, there are spatial and temporal indications to support G. Philip's 1999 scenario that at approximately the same time, short-distance migrations from the ʿAmuq Plain and from the North Syrian littoral (probably by land and sea respectively) to pre-chosen workshops of Beth Yeraḥ ware in the Southern Levant (mainly along the Upper Jordan Valley) did take place. Turning to the second case, it is argued, on the basis of typological, chronological and spatial criteria, that the bearers of Philia ware were South-Western Anatolian immigrants who could easily sail from any EB II harbor town in Cilicia (like Tarsus or Mersin) towards the north-western coasts of Cyprus, from whence they expanded to the central and the southern parts of the island. A comparative study of other aspects of material culture relevant to the Beth Yeraḥ and Philia cases exposes fundamental differences between the lifestyles of mainland and island societies. It has justly been argued that the former case was merely a marginal episode that on the one hand did not disrupt the continuity of the urban pattern of the EB II—EB III Levant, and on the other hand left no impact whatsoever on the generations following the disappearance of Beth Yeraḥ ware (ca. 2400 BCE). In contrast, the latter case reflects a crucial episode in Late Chalcolithic Cyprus that had immense effects on the development of Bronze Age Cyprus. This episode actually signifies substantial ethno-demographic and socio-economic changes on the island, including the rise of a foreig