The local trade of Sepphoris in the Roman Period

Abstract

The ceramic products of two major centers in Galilee producing domestic pottery, at Kefar Hananya and Shikhin, have been characterized by neutron activation analysis, and the distribution of the pottery into the surrounding district ascertained and plotted. Both sites are mentioned in early Rabbinic literature, and the analyses have shown easier access between different parts of Roman Galilee than recent writers have supposed. Shikhin specialized in storage jars of characteristic shape. Some production of pottery may have occured at Sepphoris, which is near the two sites mentioned. Discriminant analysis was used to assess the data and is shown in several figures.