From Clay to Atomic Accelerator: the figurines from Kharayeb and the ion bram analysis

In this paper the first results of the Italian-Lebanese CNR joint project "Establishment of Phoenician pottery database on the chemical composition of terracottas using ion beam analysis techniques IBA and application to the study of artisanal production (pottery and coroplastic) from Kharayeb archeological site in southern Lebanon" will be presented. The project have three main goals: a first goal is to implement with new data the data base of the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission of the CNRL. A second goal is to obtain information about the technique of production of ancient pottery workshops of the area of Tyre and his hinterland. Analysis of the fabric of the figurines can give us information about the sources of clay used by the artisans. The comparison between materials of different periods can provide us information also about change in the productions (manufacturing technology and cooking temperatures) during the transition from the ancient system of production, typical of the Iron Age Levant, and to the new system of the Hellenistic period (with the introduction of the double mould technique).A third goal is to use the information about the composition of the clay to understand whether the figurines were locally produced or imported from the coast. This is important for the reconstruction of the way the sanctuary functioned. Where the figurines dedicated in the cult place locally produced or where they imported from the workshops of the big coastal cities? How was the process of production connected to the sanctuary organized? Even if the results are about a first group of samples preliminary, we can confirm the idea that figurine dated to the 7th and 5th century BC. were products of workshops using different sources of clay than those used by the artisans of Hellenistic period. The group of Hellenistic period, in fact, is strictly connected with the group of pottery samples from Tyre. We know that the moulds for the production of the figurines were originally introduced in the area from the big centers of production of Hellenistic periods as Alexandria in Egypt. It is probable that artisans working in relation with the religious structures dedicated to the cult of Egyptian gods were present in Tyre where the existence of a cult of Serapis (inscription dated to the 3th century BC) is known. The similarity of the clay from Tyre (even if used for pottery of the Iron Age Period) with that of the Hellenistic production of the figurine from Kharayeb suggests that figurines were produced in some big workshops of Tyre and then simply sell in some shop near the cult place o Kharayeb.