Overview
- The PLOS One paper published 19 August 2026 reports that Qurayyah Painted Ware, a red‑and‑black two‑colour pottery tradition, functioned like a brand because its visual style and materials were consistent and widely recognized.
- The study resolves a long debate by proving that these vessels originate at the Qurayyah oasis in northwestern Arabia rather than elsewhere under the old label 'Midianite Pottery'.
- Researchers used layered field context, vessel‑shaping analysis, petrographic thin sections and chemical fingerprinting with Neutron Activation Analysis to link pottery fragments to central production at Qurayyah.
- Finds show the pottery was carried hundreds of kilometres to sites in the Southern Levant, including Tell el‑Kheleifeh and Timna, and that local production began about 3,600 years ago and persisted into the final Iron Age.
- The team published clear criteria for identifying ancient 'brands' and says the results reshape thinking about premodern producer‑consumer ties while leaving open how many other branded producers existed and where further sampling is needed.