The Middle Bronze Age (MB; ca. 1950-1550) is a very interesting period in general, one that at an earlier stage of my career I had dealt with extensively (see here).
At Tell es-Safi/Gath, there is evidence of the MB, but only in the upper city. Apparently, during this period (and in particular the MB IIB), the upper part of the tell was fortified (resuing the EB fortifications in this part of the tell).
While this period is not mentioned often in the blog, we do have some great finds from this period. In fact, Maria just took a great picture of a very special type of pottery from the MB – the so-called “Red, White and Blue Ware” (RWB ware). This pottery is typical mainly of southern Canaan, but here and there does appear in the north as well. It is particularly common in the mid/late MB, and usually is earlier than another iconic pottery group of the late MB and early LB – the “Chocolate on White Ware” (for a discussion of this group, see here).
Here is the very nice picture that Maria took of several beautiful RWB ware sherds that were found in Area F (excavated under the supervision of Jeff Chadwick):
