BIO: I studied archaeology at the University of Sheffield and completed a PhD in anthropology at the University of Manitoba before moving to Israel for postdoctoral studies. My research primarily centres on the organisation of ceramic production, from a technostylistic perspective, and how this informs our understanding of economic and social life in the Bronze and Iron Age societies of the Levant. A consistent theme in my varied research centres on further developing approaches to investigate potting communities, social groups, and identities during transformative periods of societal change. Using methods adapted from forensic biometry and dermatoglyphics, my current postdoctoral project uses fingerprint impressions (‘plastic prints’) preserved on ceramic artefacts to profile potters provisioning the Early Bronze Age megasite at Qedesh in the Galilee. When preserved, fingerprints baked into ceramic surfaces offer a valuable yet partial window into the roles of individuals engaged in production and the potential composition of the workforce. They provide a direct and personal connection with the producers, making it possible to test long-standing assumptions about task specialisation, the division of labour, and craft learning (the transmission of technological knowledge) for a formative period in the development of early urban societies. Since 2013, I have served as a senior staff member and field school instructor on major excavations that include developer-led (CRM) projects with Canadian firms at sites ranging in date from recent historic occupations to the Upper Palaeolithic.

 

Advisor: Dr. Uri Davidovich

 

Select Publications

Ross, Jon, Ido Wachatel, and Uri Davidovich. Accepted. Metallic Ware Platters Reconsidered: Evidence from the Early Bronze Age II Megasite of Qedesh in the Galilee. In Economies of Scale: The Archaeology of Emerging Complex Societies of the Old World, edited by J. Beller, T. Greenfield, and K. Fowler. Oxford: BAR.

 

Ross, Jon and Itzhaq Shai. 2024. Figurines and their makers from a Canaanite cultic enclosure at

Tel Burna. ‘Atiqot 116: 43–76 https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040X.1125

 

Ross, Jon, Shira Albaz, Haskel J. Greenfield, and Aren M. Maeir. 2024. Ceramic platters at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath: An integrated chaîne opératoire approach. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 12(3): 298–325. https://doi.org/10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.12.3.0298

 

Ross, Jon, Kent Fowler, and Itzhaq Shai. 2023. New fingerprint evidence for female potters in Late Bronze Age Canaan: The demographics of potters and division of labour at Tel Burna. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 71:101533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101533

 

Fowler, Kent D, Jon Ross, Christian Barritt-Cleary, Zvi Lederman, Shlomo Bunimovitz, and

Haskel J. Greenfield. 2023. Age and sex determination of fingerprints on ceramic objects from

the Late Bronze Age palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Levant 54(3): 331–346.

DOI: 10.1080/00758914.2022.2154067

 

Greenfield, Haskel, Jon Ross, Tina Greenfield, Shira Albaz, Sarah Richardson, and Aren Maeir. 2022. Household rituals and merchant caravaneers: The phenomenon of Early Bronze Age asinine burials from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel. Animals 22(12): 1–46. doi.org/10.3390/ani12151931

 

Ross, Jon, Haskel J. Greenfield, Kent D. Fowler and Aren M. Maeir. 2020. In search of Early Bronze Age potters at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath: A new perspective on vessel manufacture for discriminating chaînes opératoires. Special edition volume on the chaîne opératoire past, present, and future. Archaeology Review Cambridge 35(1): 74–89. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.65462

 

Fowler, Kent D., Jon Ross, Elizabeth Walker, Christian Barritt-Cleary, Haskel J. Greenfield, and Aren M. Maeir. 2020. Fingerprint evidence for the division of labour and learning pottery-making at Early Bronze Age Tell es-Sâfi/Gath, Israel. PLoS ONE 15(4). DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0231046.

 

Fowler, Kent D., Elizabeth Walker, Jon Ross, Haskel J. Greenfield, and Aren M. Maeir. 2019.The identity of potters in early states: Determining the age and sex of fingerprints on Early Bronze Age pottery from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel. Journal of Anthropological Method and Theory 26(4): 1470–1512. DOI: 10.1007/s10816-019-09419-9

 

Ross, Jon, Kent D. Fowler, Itzick Shai, Haskel J. Greenfield and Aren M. Maeir. 2018. A scanning method for the identification of pottery forming techniques at the mesoscopic scale: A pilot study on the manufacture of Early Bronze Age III holemouth jars and platters from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 18: 551–561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.01.036