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Archaeologists Found Evidence of a 3,200-Year-Old Brand With Its Own Knockoffs

Qurayyah Painted Ware spread hundreds of miles, became a status symbol and inspired imitation pieces across the ancient world.

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Gucci. McDonald’s. Disney. Apple. All brands known the world over whose names alone seem to be the engine that fuels the self-perpetuating machine of popularity, bordering on idolatry, required for a company to become so popular that they breed legions of ripoffs. There’s one brand that predates them all by centuries that researchers say might be the first recorded instance of a wildly popular “brand” as we know it today. It was a ceramics company from 3,200 years ago.

According to a new study published in PLOS ONE, the operation was based at the Qurayyah oasis in northwestern........

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