On ancient Jewish stone vessels

MATERIAL CULTURE: Stone Dishes in Jewish Homes: A Custom That Began in the Second Temple. It was known that Jews used stone cups and dishes, but now Mount Zion archaeologist Shimon Gibson sheds light on their actual use from King Herod’s time - and until the Bar Kochba debacle (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

So, the use of stoneware may have begun in the Temple, and would remain in the context of Jerusalem for decades before permeating the land at large, city and country alike.

As Ms. Schuster notes, the underlying article came out recently in the peer-reviewed Journal for the Study of Judaism: Common and Uncommon Jewish Purity Concerns in City and Village in Early Roman Palestine and the Flourishing of the Stone Vessel Industry: A Summary and Discussion. The link leads to the astract. Full access is by personal or institutional subscription or individual payment.

For PaleoJudaica posts on ancient stone vessels, see here and here and links. And for posts on the inscribe Mount Zion stone cup, see here and links.

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