Kibbutz Megiddo (al-Lajjun): The Textile Impressions

During the excavations at Kibbutz Megiddo (al-Lajjun), thirteen linen textile impressions and coiling marks on pottery were discovered. The textile impressions exhibit either a delicate or a crude texture. Textiles were used to cover ceramic vessels to prevent them from drying too quickly, which could cause the vessel to crack. Impressions on the interior of vessels suggest that they were modeled, apparently using clay coils, around a textile bag filled with wet sand, which provided their general rounded shape. The basketry impressions on the bases of pottery vessels were not created intentionally but resulted from placing freshly shaped pots on mats to dry before firing or from the use of mats as primitive turntables. This latter possibility was probably the case for the Mamluk-period imprints from Megiddo.