Cypriot barrel juglets at khirbet qeiyafa and other sites in the levant: Cultural aspects and chronological implications

The destruction level of the much contested Stratum IV at Khirbet Qeiyafa yielded two Cypriot vessels, both of them miniature barrel juglets. Their stratigraphic context and the shape of the one complete specimen indicate that they are among the earliest such vessels ever shipped out of Cyprus. This paper considers these vessels from two major perspectives. First, it draws on them as the starting point for highlighting a commercial phenomenon that has hitherto received insufficient attention-the rather extensive export of such vessels to the Levant in the early Iron Age. Second, it considers the chronological implications of the two exemplars for the chronology of Stratum IV at Khirbet Qeiyafa. This issue is relevant as well to the general debate regarding absolute dates of the Iron Age in the Levant.