Glossary Pottery and vessels
Red Lustrous Wheelmade ware
Also called: RLW, Red Lustrous Wheel-made
A Late Bronze Age wheelmade ware with a glossy red surface, best known for tall spindle bottles, arm-shaped vessels and flasks.
Red Lustrous Wheelmade (RLW) is thin, hard and highly burnished, and comes in a small set of distinctive shapes: long-necked spindle bottles, lentoid flasks and vessels in the form of a human arm. It circulated in Cyprus, the Levant, Egypt and, unusually, in quantity in Hittite Anatolia.
Where it was made has been debated. Clay analyses point to a source in northern Cyprus, while its many finds in Anatolia kept an Anatolian origin in play for a long time. Its purpose is also uncertain: it may have carried a valued oil or served in ritual. See the Hittite Empire and Cyprus.
Related terms
- Burnishing
Rubbing the surface of an unfired pot with a smooth pebble, bone or tool to compact the clay and give it a sheen after firing.
- Wheelmade
Shaped on a rotating potter's wheel, either thrown from a lump of clay or built by hand and then finished on a turning device.
- Fine ware
Pottery made with care from well-prepared clay, with thin walls and finished or decorated surfaces, mainly for serving, drinking and display.