Characterisation of possible Phoenician pottery production of Tyre

• The probable Tyrian products were characterised.
• The variability exhibited points to the use of a non-standardised recipe.
• Production technology is based on low fired and high calcareous pastes.
• Possible secondary baryte has been observed in all examined specimens.
• Ceramics of other origins were also identified.

Very few archaeometric studies have been conducted on the Iron Age sites of Lebanon. Indeed, there is a great imbalance in the information published on fabric analysis in the Levant. Most of the bibliography comes from sites located in Palestine and therefore in recent years the characterization of metropolitan Phoenician pastes is based on proxy data. In an attempt to provide direct information about the characteristics of Phoenician production, 101 fragments of pottery from the necropolis of Tyre-Al Bass have been sampled. All individuals have been analysed by means of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses in order to shed light on chemical and mineralogical information to define reference groups and the technology employed in production. Furthermore, selected samples, according to the previous results, have been further analysed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to shed light on microstructure and vitrification stage. Thus, the present study represents the first steps towards the characterization of the Phoenician ceramics of Tyre in order to describe different fabrics and to differentiate possible production groups.