A New Palatial Ware or a Case of Imitation of Egyptian Pottery? The Brownish Red Slip (BRS) from Qatna and Its Significance within the Northern Levantine Ceramic Tradition of the Mid-Second Millennium BC

In recent years the study of the ceramic horizon characterizing the end of the MBA and the LBA has made substantial progress thanks to the excavation of a crucial sequence from the site of Qatna. The following study aims at discussing in more detail the so-called Brownish Red Slip (BRS) pottery that has been identified by the author during the study of the ceramic assemblages excavated in Qatna throughout the 2000–2010 years. The focus of this work is thus the prominent features of the Brownish Red Slip: form and fabric types, functional contexts where it has been retrieved, and reasons that may have led to its production. In particular, the paper will discuss the possibility that the BRS imitates Egyptian ceramics, and the socio-political implications of such an interpretation