Provenance study of the Late Bronze Age Cypriote potteries: White slip and monochrome wares from tell Atchana/the Ancient Alalakh (Hatay) and archaeometrical approachs

Tell Atchana/The ancient Alalakh is an ancient city located in south of the Amuq Valley. Large amount of Cypriot ceramics was found in Tell Atchana/The Ancient Alalakh. This ancient city is one of the biggest settlement in Amuq region and was the capital city of the Mukish Kingdom during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Ancient Alalakh has significant geographic location because of junction point of Anatolia, Mediterrean and Mesopotamia. Therefore, this site play an important role on culture and trade exchange with other different cultures, especially Hittite and Mitanni. Due to the being city of kingdom and interaction with other cultures, this provide to much information about Mid-Late Bronze Age. One of the significant archaeologic finding is ceramic which plays a significant role to reach to information about socio-economic, socio-cultural, politic and trade balance. A vast quantity of The White Slip (both White Slip I and II) and the Monochrome wares are two Late Bronze Age Cypriote pottery types found in a large area in the Tell Atchana/ Alalakh excavation. We selected a total of 56 samples of White Slip (WS I=6, WS II= 30) and Monochrome ware (MN= 20) from Tell Atchana/Alalakh and analyzed using archaeometrical methods. The chemical compositions of the selected samples were determined by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), and mineralogical contents were investigated using petrographic thin-sections technique. The main aims of the study are to explore the compositional characteristics of the wares (e.g. chemical and petrographic groups), and to ascertain that whether they are local variant of the Cypriot White Slip and Monochrome ware types or represent Cypriot imports to this region. In addition, another aim is explore the possible clay source by use of these archaeometric methods. According to these analyses, we determined petrographic and geochemical characterization of the potteries and determined subgroups for both WS and WS II ware. Moreover, we confirmed local variation between WS I and WS II ware. We revealed petrographic and geochemical differences between White Slip and Monochrome ware. For the provenance, when the analytical results of the White Slip and Monochrome was compared with the reference group from the previous study, It was seen no relationship selected samples with refereance group that was established based on extensive clay sampling in Amuq plain. Other steps for the provenance, selected sample WS and MN wares from Tell Atchana was compared with White Slip and Monochrome samples from the different regions that are collected from previous studies. After comparison, we understood that our White Slip pottery have similar geochemical characterization with Cyprus ceramics from previous study. The analytical results proved that White Slip I and II were produced from raw clay of mafic and ultramafic source rocks exposed in the Troodos massif, available in the Limassol area of South Cyprus and traded to Tell Atchana. Likewise, Monochrome ware are import material and have similar geochemical features with other Monochrome pottery. These results demonstrate a close trade connection between Tell Atchana/Alalakh and South Cyprus during the Middle-Late Bronze Age.