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Orit Tsuf

Abstract

The excavations at Yavne revealed many piles of production waste near pottery kilns in relation to a large complex of wine presses dating to the Byzantine period. The kilns produced Gaza jars, which are well-known in the wine industry, alongside bag-shaped jars, and whose use was diverse, including the storage and marketing of wine. The waste piles of the pottery jars were discovered near kilns dating to the Late Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods. Following the excavation and the analysis of the finds, it is possible to map the location of the waste piles in relation to the distribution of the pottery kilns. This allowed for an identification of the production areas and waste piles, the types of jars used to store the wine and the morphologicaltypological development of the various types during their production in Yavne. Several questions are raised in this article: What was the purpose of the waste piles—production debris (very few deformed vessels were discovered), community debris, production debris (jugs that were broken during the packaging process, when filling the contents or during shipping), or empty reusable vessels (mainly intact jugs)? Is the location of the waste piles in relation to the pottery kilns significant? Do these finds allow for a renewal/update of the existing typology of the bag-shaped and Gaza jars? Is it possible to reconstruct the jar-production processes in Yavne (expansion, contraction and transition from region to region) throughout the periods? Is it possible to determine that the industry changed its goals, or alternatively, was uniform throughout the periods in Yavne?

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