ABSTRACT
In order to consider the extent to which MTCs offer insights into patterns of seaborne connections and trade in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, it is important first to distinguish between their development in what seem to be two, if not four prominent places of production: the Levant and the Aegean, and possibly Egypt and Cyprus. Based on the evidence presented in this study, it seems clear that (1) the earliest MTCs developed during the Early Bronze Age, first in the Levant and then in the Aegean, and (2) the Levantine type continued almost without interruption into the Iron Age, preserving its characteristic morphological features. In contrast, at least three distinctively different types of MTC were produced in the Bronze Age Aegean, one possibly on Late Bronze Age Cyprus, three more in the early Iron Age Aegean, and one on early Iron Age Cyprus.
