Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Biblical and/or Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology, PhD

First Advisor

Randall W. Younker

Second Advisor

Paul J. Ray, Jr.

Third Advisor

Paul Z. Gregor

Abstract

Problem

This dissertation is presented as a fulfillment of the work that Sebastiano Tusa, the site director of Mokarta, had requested before his passing, that is, a complete catalogue of all Hut 12 ceramics, their functions, and how these may have fit into the site as a whole. The site itself, Mokarta, is a Late Bronze Age site in western Sicily that was destroyed by fire ca. 950 B.C. The site has not yet been fully excavated, and only a fraction of information that has been gathered has been published. The research for this dissertation is the first comprehensive analysis of the ceramics at the Mokarta settlement, two less comprehensive analyses being performed and published on Huts 1 and 14, and the last comprehensive analysis being performed in 1995 which was limited to the Mokarta necropolises.

Methods

In order to more clearly understand the Mokarta settlement pottery repertoire, the ceramic assemblage of Hut 12 was categorized and analyzed. Afterwards, functions for each vessel were discerned based on the use-relationships of the vessels, judging through form, technology, and use-alteration. The form of each vessel helped to determine use-related properties such as capacity, accessibility, stability, and transportability. The ceramic manufacturing, including thickness, inclusions, porosity, coarseness, and the like, helped to determine a vessel’s fracture strength, impact toughness, and resistance to thermal shock. The analysis of use-alteration, identifying abrasions, chipping, spalling or pitting, and sooting and attrition patterns, provided evidence to categorize such primary and sometimes secondary use-relationships that were ultimately important to understanding patterns of use.

Results

A number of ceramic dissimilarities was determined to exist between Huts 1, 12, and 14. Huts 12 and 14 both contained a large number of serving vessels, contrary to Hut 1. Hut 14 contained a large number of cooking and food preparation vessels, namely the Olle and Scodelle, whereas Hut 12 contained the only grinding slabs and Quattro Parti Piastra, a type of baking plate. While Hut 1 contained the only so-called Incense Burner of the three huts, Huts 12 and 14 both contained large, fluted and pedestaled vessels typed as Bacini Baccellati su alto Piede.

Conclusion

The differences in the pottery assemblages of the three huts lead to the determination that while Hut 14 was linked with both food preparation and cooking, Hut 12 was linked to grinding and baking. As the two huts are located within the possibly familial compound of Area E, it is feasible that each of the two huts functioned in these separate roles to the benefit of each other, one baking bread and the other preparing, cooking, and/or storing food stuffs. Additionally, as both are linked to feasting by the presence of the multiple Bacini Baccellati su alto Piede and the rather large number of serving vessels, the above mentioned roles may have also carried over to the broader village or hamlet in times of festivities or ritualistic celebrations.

Subject Area

Sicily (Italy)--Antiquities; Ceramics--Italy--Sicily

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