Abstract:

Twelve hundred vessels found at Oboda (Avdat) in the Nabatean potter's workshop, in the fill of the podium of the Nabatean temple, in the ruins of a partly excavated Nabatean dwelling, in the large city dump, and in various other loci constitute the most complete corpus of pottery found on a Nabatean site and reveal the splendor of the Nabatean culture of the 1st century CE. Apart from the numerous imported vessels from all over the Roman empire, Oboda was an important production center of local pottery, which included the fine eggshell ware, sigillata, and innumerable types of plain ware. Most of the pottery pertains to the Middle Nabatean period (30 BCE*50-70 CE), when Oboda held a key position in the Nabatean caravan network. The meager finds of the early period, all imported from centers in the eastern Mediterranean, are in keeping with a site in transition between semi-nomadism and semi-sedentarization. An attempt has been made to classify the pottery not only by type but also by function.