Ceramics are a fundamental component for determining chronology, regionality and ethnicity in most archaeological research. Other trends in the study of material culture in general and pottery in particular focus on the possibility of utilizing ceramic finds as a window to understanding social and economic, as well as ideological processes. This work deals with that aspect of ceramic research by emphasizing the processes of change and continuity over a prolonged period of time. The discussion reviews the different theoretical and methodological frameworks in studying these processes and examines them in the rich ceramic assemblages from Tel Batash which date to the second millennium BCE – from the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age 2B until the Iron Age 1.
The study of the assemblages includes a quantitative typological count based on multiple variables, an examination of the production technologies, volumetrics, petrographic analysis and a comparative analysis of the distribution of vessels in residential buildings. In light of the multitude of data that has been collected, a possible reconstruction of the mechanisms behind the ceramic change and continuity in the historical context of the periods under discussion is proposed.