Archaeologists have discovered a 3,200-year-old ‘brand’

Researchers suggest viewing Qurayyah Painted Ware as an ancient equivalent of a modern ‘brand’. However, this does not refer to a trade mark in the modern sense: the archaeologists have found no company names, logos or advertising. By ‘brand’, the scientists mean a consistent combination of recognisable design, production technology, origin, distribution and imitations.

This unusual pottery was produced in an oasis in the middle of the desert

The centre of production was the ancient oasis of Kuraya in the north-west of modern-day Saudi Arabia.

The site is particularly interesting because the production of intricate painted pottery developed in a rather harsh environment, where access to the resources necessary for pottery-making — water, clay and fuel — was limited.

Early examples of Qurayyah Painted Ware began to appear around 3,600 years ago, at the turn of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Over time, the style evolved, and several centuries later a particularly striking variety emerged, which researchers refer to as QPW 4.

It is this variety that scholars have compared to the brand.

The vessels were easily recognisable by their designs

Around 3,200 years ago, craftsmen from Qurayyah began producing richly decorated vessels with two-colour painting.

They depicted geometric patterns, animals and human figures, including scenes which researchers interpret as ritualistic.

This gave rise to a distinctive visual style that clearly set these artefacts apart from other pottery in the region. Moreover, this production tradition was not a passing fad: pottery production in Kurai continued for another thousand years or so, right up to the late Iron Age.

Chemical analysis pinpointed the place of production

To determine whether the famous painted pottery was indeed produced in Kuraya, the team employed several methods simultaneously.

The archaeologists examined the moulding marks on the vessels, thin sections of the pottery under a polarising microscope, and the chemical composition of the clay. For the latter, they employed neutron activation analysis, which allows the concentrations of even trace elements to be compared.

Of particular significance was the discovery, within the oasis itself, of a potter’s kiln and thousands of production waste items, including misshapen and poorly fired vessels.

Among the identifiable fragments alone, the researchers counted 3,209 sherds associated with production. The mineral and chemical composition of some of the pottery also corresponded to local raw materials.

This made it possible to link the origin of the tradition much more confidently to Kuraya.

The pottery was transported hundreds of kilometres

This distinctive pottery was not confined to the oasis itself.

Vessels and fragments of a similar type were found far to the north — in the Southern Levant, including Tell el-Heleife and the sanctuary of the Egyptian goddess Hathor at Timna.

Chemical analysis has confirmed that some of these finds were indeed made from the same material as Kuraya’s wares. This provided direct evidence in favour of the export of pottery over distances of hundreds of kilometres.

However, the scale of the trade is still difficult to assess. Chemically confirmed provenance has been established for only a limited number of vessels; therefore, one cannot automatically assume that any similar sherd found in the Levant was imported from Arabia.

The ancient ‘brand’ began to be imitated

It is these imitations that have particularly interested researchers.

In other regions, vessels appeared that reproduced the characteristic features of Qurayyah Painted Ware, but, judging by the raw materials and techniques used, may have been produced by local craftsmen.

According to the authors, this resembles a situation where a recognisable and prestigious product becomes well-known enough for competitors to begin imitating its appearance.

At the same time, the Qurayyah visual system itself may have extended beyond pottery: similar two-colour decorative techniques are also found on other objects, including small artefacts and stone carvings.

Why do researchers refer to this as a ‘brand’ at all?

The authors of the study proposed eight characteristics by which an ancient product can be tentatively compared to a brand.

These include a consistent visual identity, consistent use of materials, technological continuity, centralised production, export, local copies, production for trade, and cultural reputation.

According to the team, QPW 4 meets all these criteria.

But this is precisely where the important line is drawn between archaeological fact and interpretation.

Scholars can indeed establish where the vessels were produced, how similar their technology is, where individual examples were transported, and where imitations arose. It is far more difficult to prove directly that Bronze Age consumers perceived these artefacts specifically as a ‘brand’ in the modern economic sense.

No written customer reviews, trade marks or evidence of advertising strategies have survived.

Therefore, it is more appropriate to use the word ‘brand’ here in quotation marks – as an analytical comparison proposed by the authors of the study.

‘Madianit pottery’ has been given a new origin

The study also helps to resolve a long-standing archaeological debate.

Late QPW painted pottery has long been known as ‘Midianite Pottery’. Its origins have been debated for decades, with various researchers linking it to different regions and cultural traditions.

New data on kilns, production waste, mineral composition and the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of the vessels strongly support the theory that the Kuraya oasis was indeed the most important production centre.

At the same time, its inhabitants were not an isolated population on the fringes of the ancient world. The techniques and decoration of the pottery reveal links with the Southern Levant, Syria and wider Bronze Age trade networks.

What the archaeologists have proven

The most reliable conclusion of the study is not that ‘brands’ in the modern sense already existed 3,200 years ago.

Archaeologists have shown that craftsmen from a single Arabian oasis created a durable, recognisable and technologically consistent type of product, which was distributed far beyond its place of production and became a model for others to emulate.

This bears a striking resemblance to certain functions of a modern brand — even if the inhabitants of Qurayya themselves, of course, did not use such a concept.

This is precisely why the authors regard QPW as a rare example of how relationships between producers, goods and consumers could have developed long before the advent of the capitalist economy.

Source

Study:“Creating a brand. Genesis, transformation and diffusion of Qurayyah Painted Ware”.

Authors: Marta Luciani et al.

Journal: PLOS ONE, 2026.

Published: 19 August 2026.