A WORLD OF GOODS: Transport Jars and Commodity Exchange at the Late Bronze Age Harbor of Kommos, Crete

Abstract

The harbor site of Kommos, Crete, has yielded rich evidence for longdistance exchange in the form of ceramic transport jars of types used not only for distribution within Crete and the Aegean, but also across the eastern Mediterranean. An integrated petrographic and chemical approach is here employed in order to determine the provenance of short-necked amphoras, transport stirrup jars, Egyptian jars, and Canaanite jars. The results reveal a detailed picture of local jar production within southern Crete, as well as jars that have their origins in the Nile Delta and at several specific locations along the Levantine coast. © The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.