Imitation and Emulation Part of the appeal of long-distance trade was the status and satisfaction that came from possessing exotic goods. The Canaanites and Israelites imitated many products from Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. This is an indication of the influence and popularity of these styles of objects.

In the Middle Bronze Age, Egyptian alabaster vessels were among the first products to be imitated on a large scale. The Canaanites, however, made their copies from gypsum rather than alabaster. Other Egyptian objects and images were copied so widely that they became part of the local repertoire. Can you guess which juglet is the original Egyptian alabaster vessel and which is a local Canaanite gypsum copy?

In the Late Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek and Cypriot pottery was a popular import and local imitations abounded. Certain Mycenaean vessel forms -- the stirrup jar, pilgrim's flask and pyxis -- were so popular that local imitations continued to be produced well into the Iron Age, several hundred years after the originals were no longer made in Greece. During the Iron Age, local potters also imitated the popular red-burnished (polished) pottery and small "perfume" juglets of the Phoenicians.

Mycenaean "pilgrim flask"