The Humble Gaza Jar

The answer to the long ago "What? Where? When?" posted in September is the Gaza Jar.  For a long time it was believed that the Gaza jar, generally used as a container to ship wine, ceased to be used after the Byzantine period.  That assumption was tested when Gaza jars started appearing in Islamic period contexts, during the seventh and  eighth centuries, at a number of sites in Israel.  Gaza jar fragments are so common at Ashkelon in such contexts that there can be little doubt that they continued to be manufactured and used well after the Islamic conquest.  Work we are currently doing at Ashkelon promises to shed more light on this important vessel and its use in the Byzantine and Islamic periods.