Judea

Along with Galilee and Samaria, Judea (aka Judah) was one of the three divisions of ancient Palestine and was deeply entrenched in biblical history. The Judean Period (934-586BCE) roughly corresponds to the dates of the first Jewish Temple and, as most Jews were members of the Judah tribe, they were called “Judeans,” and their homeland became known as Judea meaning “land of the Jews.” These dates also correspond to what is referred to as the ancient Levant. In the 10th century BCE David became king of Judah and captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of the kingdom of the tribes of Israel. After David’s son King Solomon died, the 10 northern tribes separated from Judah. Jerusalem remained the capital until 587 BCE when the Babylonians conquered and destroyed it. Judea was believed by some to comprise just a small area surrounding the city of Jerusalem but in some Old Testament references, Judea included all territory formerly occupied by the Jewish nation.

All VA’s Holy Land earthenware terracotta pottery is likely from Judea. As this was before the invention of the kiln, Judean pottery was hand made using coil construction to mold wet clay into shapes and it was finished by removing the clay’s excess moisture using the paddle and anvil method and, after a further period of drying, it was fired using the pit-firing technique.