EAST DELTA

Tell Tebilla 10

	Imported Pottery Tell Tebilla has produced many pieces of imported pottery, including over 500 imported Cypro-Phoenician store jars, moritaria, some carinated bowls, and decorated vessels, several dozen East Greek vessels, and one Judaean juglet. The imported vessels amount to no more than 5% of the pottery excavated from Tebilla, which is fairly significant considering that imported Canaanite vessels from Ramesside period (Dyns.19-20) Qantir amounted to 1-2%. However, most of the imported pottery from Tebilla originated from mortuary contexts, which tend to contain higher quantities of imported vessels. Of note, various Cypro-Phoenician pottery forms (e.g., store jars and moritaria) appeared in local fabrics, but in much smaller numbers.			East Delta (Tell Tebilla) Arabic Summary Arabic Report Bibliography Bibliographic sources for Tell Tebilla Tell Tebilla 1 Project Personnel Background Survey and Excavation Results Tell Tebilla 2 Southern Cemetery 2000 Tell Tebilla 3 Western Cemetery 1999-2001 Tell Tebilla 4 Northern Cemetery 2001 Northeastern Cemetery Tell Tebilla 5 The Temple Tell Tebilla 6 The Settlement Conclusion Tell Tebilla 7 Magnetometer and Surface Survey Tell Tebilla 8 History & Commerce Tell Tebilla 9 The Material Culture from Tell Tebilla Tell Tebilla 10 Imported Pottery Tell Tebilla 11 Osteology Remote Imaging (E.Delta) Satellite Images & Aerial Photography Studies

	Cypro-Phoenician store jars: (left) TP 255 from locus 51 of Unit H-15 and (right) TP 140 from locus 2 in Trench IV of Unit I-14 (Photos: P. Carstens).
	The Toronto expedition discovered Cypro-Phoenician store jars and moritaria from all areas of the mound, including the Late Period cemeteries in the southern, western, and northern parts of Tell Tebilla and the water plant area. These Cypro-Phoenician forms occurred in strata spanning the Late Period (ca.664-332 B.C.). The store jars represent Levantine export of wine and other products to Egypt during 664 to 332 B.C., with these containers being reused in funerary assemblages and discarded in diverse parts of the cemetery (e.g., debris within the soil filling mastaba chambers, streets, and other areas).
	Above: Cypro-Phoenician store jar (TP 348) from basket 5 of locus 65 in Unit G-14 (Photo: P. Carstens).
	Right: Cypro-Phoenician store jars from Units G-14, H-12, H-13, H-14, H-15, and the Water Plant (Drawings: ceramicists & graphic technicians).
	The moritaria appear to have been used for grinding and mashing softer food products, with evidence for abrasion in the bases of these vessel types. The export of most of these open forms to Tebilla (and elsewhere in Egypt), may reveal a desire to retain particular Levantine fabrics in this food-processing implement rather than using local Egyptian fabrics containing sand or other minerals (personal communication J.S. Holladay, Jr.).

	Cypro-Phoenician store jars (left) from Units G-14, I-14, X-8, X-9, B-18, and the Water Plant, and Cypro-Phoenician moritaria (right) from Unit G-14 (Drawings: ceramicists & graphic technicians).
	Decorated Cypro-Phoenician vessels and East Greek pottery form a much smaller quantity (about 0.5%) of the imported vessels found at Tebilla. The minimal presence of East Greek store jars at Tebilla reveals a much lower intensity of trade with Greece and the Aegean than is evident at the Greek trading settlement at Naukratis (West Delta) and the Egyptian and Greek mercenary base and town at Tell Defenneh (East Delta).

	Left: Cypro-Phoenician decorated vessels from Units G-14, H-15, and Z-3 (Drawings: ceramicists & graphic technicians). Right: East Greek vessels from various contexts (Drawings: ceramicists & G. Mumford).

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