364 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
the whole pottery industry, not only speeding up production phenom- 
enally but also improving structural design and esthetic qualities. 
The older flat-bottomed jars were replaced by round-bottomed ones 
which did not break so easily. Narrow mouths were now made as 
easily as wide ones. Spouts largely disappeared because a thrown jar 
has a symmetrical edge that pours well. (Spouts were always break- 
ing off anyway.) The wheel made accurately spaced burnishing pos- 
sible—a better finish than hand work could produce. 
The true potter’s wheel introduced a new principle into ancient 
ceramics, namely centrifugal force. “A ball of good plastic clay is 
placed at the center of the wheel, which is then turned rapidly either 
by an apprentice or by the potter himself. The action of the cen- 
trifugal force upon the ball of clay as it is modified by the fashioning 
hand of the potter, produces the shape. This gives to thrown pottery 
a liveliness and spontaneity of form that no other method can ap- 
proach.”? At first there was a single wheel turned by hand. 
Later came the double wheel, where a foot-power wheel turned the 
small thrower’s wheel. ‘This seems to have been a Greek improve- 
ment. The ancient potter’s wheel, like the present-day one, normally 
ran counterclockwise. After the introduction of the potter’s wheel 
into Palestine hand-made ware was seldom produced until recent 
Arab times. 
The potter’s wheel also produced another technique which is called 
turning. When a thrown-clay vessel becomes leather-hard, it can 
be replaced upon the wheel and then with a cutting tool some of its 
clay can be shaved away just as wood or steel is turned on a lathe. 
Thus more delicate and refined shapes could be made. 
By Joseph’s time Hyksos control over Palestine produced a cul- 
tural golden age. Artisans used the potter’s wheel so brilliantly that 
they became the most skillful potters that Palestine ever produced. 
Indeed their pottery forms occasionally challenge the best Greek 
work. The Hyksos were conquered by the Egyptians c. 1550 B. C. 
and Egypt took over the rule of Palestine until the time of Joshua’s 
conquest c. 1230 B. C. During these years between Genesis and Exo- 
dus Palestine declined in prosperity and the native pottery is witness 
to a cultural slump. A fine new foreign pottery arrived about the 
middle of this period. It was the famous Mycenaean pottery, known 
best in the Aegean area although the particular ware that is found 
in Palestine was more likely manufactured in Cyprus and Phoenicia. 
After Joshua’s conquest, the Israelites continued the traditional 
shapes of Palestinian pottery. They did little painting, although the 
preceding Canaanite phase had seen the greatest use of painting as a 
2 All quoted material in this article is from the authors’ work on pottery technique in 
Ann. American Schools Oriental Res., Ch. 4, vols. 21-22. 
