Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie revolutionized archaeology when, in 1890 during a dig at Tell el-Hesi, he combined typology and stratigraphy. He realized that the size and form of ledge handles, such as the ones on this pot, differed from strata to strata. Petrie was able to put the handles in chronological sequence, allowing future generations of archaeologists to date strata based on ledge handles. The vessel shown here, with folded ledge handles, was found in 1926 at Megiddo, north of Jerusalem, and dates to the Middle Bronze Age (2200–2000 B.C.E.).