Tel Yehudiyeh Jug, Middle Bronze
II 1730 -1550 B.C.E.
Tel el-Yehudiyeh ware is a distinctive pottery of the late Middle Bronze Age approx. 1730 - 1550 B.C.E. (Hyksos period). The ware takes its name from its type site at Tel el-Yehudiyeh (meaning "mound of the Jews") in the eastern Nile Delta of Egypt where it was discovered by Flinders Petrie. This area is in the ancient region of Goshen, area of the Israelites sojourn in Egypt, and within the limits of the modern city of Avaris (which was known in Antiquity as Ramses.) The pottery has also subsequently been found in Southern Israel, on the coastline and along the east coast of Cyprus. The style is of a Canaanite form with similar styles of pottery beginning two hundred years earlier without the inclusions. Similar forms followed in Canaan in the late Bronze Age. It is interesting that this Canaanite form appeared in Goshen at this time and it may be related to the Israelites (originally from Canaan) temporary living in Goshen within the land of Egypt. Tel Yehudiyeh pottery has a distinctive form of decoration, which was applied after slipping and burnishing. The decoration was created by repeatedly pricking the surface of the vessel to create a variety of designs. The multiple holes were filled with chalk or lime, the contrasting white material making the surface design even more dramatic.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East