PALESTINIAN POTTERY—KELSO AND THORLEY 363 
Roman Period—63 B. C.—A. D. 325. New Testament and early 
church. 
Each of these major periods is, of course, broken up into various 
minor ones depending upon numerous details in the changes in style 
and in types of ware within a major period. Using pottery alone for 
calendar purposes, the date of any city of Bible times can be worked 
out to within about 50 years of its life date. Sometimes the sudden 
appearance of a foreign pottery gives an exact date, as when the 
Philistines invaded Palestine and brought along a brand new type of 
pottery. The perfect example of date is illustrated by an inscription 
on a bow! found in Lachish which may enable us to date the conquest 
of that city by Joshua about 1230 B. C. The most striking piece of 
historical research using the pottery calendar has been done by Dr. 
Nelson Glueck, Director of the American School in Jerusalem. He 
has visited virtually every ancient site in Transjordan south of the 
Yarmuk River, and by a careful study of the pottery found on each 
site, he has been able to work out in broad outlines the history of 
Transjordan from prehistoric times. 
Until Abraham’s time most Palestinian pottery was hand-made. 
This type of pottery can be recognized quickly for it lacks the per- 
fect symmetry of ware thrown on the potter’s wheel. Some hand- 
made pottery is of eggshell thinness, but in general it is heavier than 
thrown ware. In one common type of hand-made ware the vessel was 
built up of coils of wet clay. Then with the fingers of one hand press- 
ing against the inside of the jar and the fingers of the other hand work- 
ing against the outside, the clay was modeled into the desired shape. 
Another type was made by molding the clay over some desired shape 
such as a basket or a broken jar. Other techniques also were used, 
and with all of them there might be a final truing-up process while 
the jar was turned round and round upon a mat. If the vessel was a 
large one, it was built up on the installment plan, allowing the lower 
sections to dry somewhat before new ones were added, lest the weight 
of too much wet clay cause the walls to collapse. American Indian 
pottery is a good example of hand-made ware. The true potter’s 
wheel was never discovered by the early American Indians. 
A. few of the most characteristic features of Palestinian pottery be- 
fore Abraham’s time are: flat bottoms, wide mouths, inverted rims, 
and spouts. Handles were of the small pierced-lug type for hanging 
ware, the heavy ledge type for lifting large vessels, and the graceful 
high-looped handle for tableware. The most common decoration was 
burnishing (see below), which to the inexperienced looks like a polish 
and is often incorrectly called so. In painted ware the most common 
decoration was a drip or net design. 
The invention of the true fast-spinning potter’s wheel revolutionized 
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