Softstone.

• Superior document: British Foundation for the Study of Arabia Monographs ; v.20
• Author: Phillips, Carl S.
• TeilnehmendeR: Simpson, St John.
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, 2018.; ©2018.
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: British Foundation for the Study of Arabia Monographs
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (283 pages)

Stone containers have been made and used in the Middle East for over eleven millennia where they pre-dated the invention of pottery. This is the first attempt to bring together different approaches to the study of softstone vessels, particularly those carved from varieties of chlorite, and covering all periods from prehistory to the present.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Copyright Page -- Contetns Page -- List of Figures -- Foreword -- Carl S. Phillips and St John Simpson -- Introduction -- Carl Phillips -- St John Simpson -- Middle Holocene Omani jewels: thoughts on the production of softstone earrings -- Donatella Usai -- Wood-worked and metal-shocked: -- softstone vessels in the Bronze and early Iron Age eastern Mediterranean -- Andrew Bevan -- Alabaster vessels: manufacture, function and distribution -- (4th to 2nd millennia BC) -- Michèle Casanova -- Three examples of 3rd millennium BC softstone vessel imports found in Syria -- Hélène David -- Un exemple de production et de diffusion du style «τ̔̈Α«·Interculturel » : les representations architecturales en Mesopotamie, Iran et dans le Golfe Persique au IIIe millenaire av. J.-C.1 -- Adrien Berthelot -- A painted chlorite 'hut model' vessel in the British Museum -- St John Simpson -- Remarks on the iconography of the 'Intercultural Style' -- Sylvia Winkelmann -- The question of workshops and chronology in the Wadi Suq period -- Christian Velde -- The steatite cooking bowl of the 1st millennium BC -- and early 1st millennium AD in South Arabia: archaeological views and cultural dynamics -- W.D. Glanzman -- The distribution and provenance of ancient South Arabian -- steatite-tempered pottery: a thin-section analysis -- Alexandra Porter -- Ancient South Arabian softstone vessels in the British Museum -- Carl S. Phillips -- St John Simpson -- 'Of cooking pots let him choose those made of stone' -- the manufacture, circulation and function of chlorite cooking pots and other objects in the Middle East and Central Asia during the Sasanian and Medieval periods -- St John Simpson -- Softstone at Siraf -- Sarah Jennings1 † -- Imported medieval stone vessels and other items from Merv and Nysa1 -- L.A. Kuraeva †.

A collection of stone utensils from the Merv oasis, -- southern Turkmenistan1 -- Z.I. Usmanova and V. Tikhomirov -- Notes on the production of stone cooking pots in Mashhad, Iran1 -- M.G. Konieczny -- Yemeni stone vessels: a different perspective. -- The use and interpretation of stone vessels by the Jews of Yemen -- Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper -- The contemporary softstone industry in Jabal Rāziḥ, north-west Yemen -- Shelagh Weir -- Cumulative bibliography -- C. Phillips and St J. Simpson -- Introduction -- Fig. 1. Map showing prehistoric sites -- Fig. 2. 6th millennium BC stone vessels excavated at the Samarran site of Tell es-Sawwan in central Iraq (after Mellaart 1975: fig. 90) -- Fig. 3. 5th millennium BC stone vessels excavated at the Ubaid site of Tell Abada in the Hamrin basin of east central Iraq (after Jasim 1985: vol. II, fig. 71) -- Fig. 4. 6th millennium BC incised softstone 'butterfly' bead from Tepe Giyan, western Iran. H 5.6 cm. BM 1936,0613.52 = 128672 (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 5. The 'Warka Vase', a 4th millennium tall footed limestone vessel with low-relief carved decoration and ancient repair holes at the top -- Fig. 7. View of an unexploited outcrop at Hyadh in the mountain north of Wadi Jizzi. It was uncovered during bulldozing of the mountain to make a road to a remote village. The picture shows very clearly the dark spot of homogeneous chlorite (about 5 m wid -- Fig. 8. Early chlorite objects excavated at Tepe Yahya, Periods VII-V: 1-2 statuettes, 3 bangle, 4 grooved stone, 5-8 vessels (after Beale et al. 1986: figs 7.8g, 7.15, 7.20, 7.29-30) -- Fig. 11. série ancienne double-compartmented bowl carved in relief with design resembling ribbed basketry. H 3.7 cm, capacity 40 ml in each container. BM 135578 (photograph: © The British Museum).

Fig. 12. Dark greenish grey chlorite bowl carved with 'hut model' design. H 7 cm, ext rim D 11.8 - 12.2 cm, capacity 600 ml. BM 135758 (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 9. série ancienne straight-sided bowl carved in relief with a design resembling ribbed basketry. H 9.1cm, capacity 660 ml. BM 121697 (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 13. Imported greyish-green chlorite bowl carved with 'hut model' design excavated in the 19th century at Sippar in south-central Iraq. H 7.1 cm. BM 1882,0918.35 = 118275 (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 14. Roll-out image of BM 128887. Note how some of the details along the top are truncated, proving that the rim was re-cut in antiquity (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 15. série ancienne: 'Figurative Style' chlorite box originally with coloured inlays which is said to have been found at Khafajah but imported in antiquity from south-east Iran. The rim was originally slightly higher and was designed to seat a close-f -- Fig. 16. Map showing early sites from Iran and Central Asia -- Fig. 17. Imported chlorite vessel fragments excavated at Adab in southern Iraq, 1 bowl carved with 'hut model' design, 2-3 figural designs (after Banks 1912: 242, 267, 270) -- Fig. 18. Chlorite vessels excavated in the cemetery at Shahdad: dark green chlorite bowls with S-profiles (1-4), bowl with zigzag design (5), beaker with fleece-like design (6), plain and decorated straight-sided bowls and beakers (7-12), decorated closed -- Fig. 19. Chlorite lidded boxes excavated in the cemetery at Shahdad: square compartmented with 'hut model' design and floral design on the lid (1), with a coiled snake carved on the lid (2), square box lid with incised criss-cross design (3), square box l.

Fig. 20. Compartmented chlorite tray made in imitation of a metal version and excavated in the cemetery at Shahdad (after Hakemi 1997a: Fq. 1) -- Fig. 21. Chlorite cosmetic bottles excavated in the cemetery at Shahdad: plain or with simple linear incision (1-8), dotted circles (9-17), dotted circles combined with linear incision (18), linear incision (19), incised 'hut model' designs (20-21), dotte -- Fig. 22. Imported chlorite cosmetic bottles found at Susa and described there as série récente (after Miroschedji 1973: fig. 11.1-6) -- Fig. 24. Imported Jiroft-type 'Figurative Style' vessel fragment found at Tarut (after Cotty 2010 = Zarins 1978: no. 546 -- see Fig. 25: 1 below) -- Fig. 25. Imported série ancienne chlorite vessels with figural representations found at Tarut -- note the survival of red and white inlays on no. 3 and red pigment on no. 5 (after Zarins 1978: nos 546, 52, 132, 47, 135, 58, 60, 570, 157, 49, 545, 542) -- Fig. 26. Imported série ancienne chlorite vessels with 'hut model' and other designs found at Tarut -- note the survival of black, red and white inlays on no. 14 (after Zarins 1978: nos 568, 201, 273, 276, 279, 141, 245, 138, 106, 581, 308, 63, 140, 97, 116 -- Fig. 27. Imported série ancienne chlorite vessels with geometric, imbricated, hatched zigzag and floral designs and representations of birds of prey with outstretched wings found at Tarut -- note the survival of green inlay on no. 11 (after Zarins 1978: no -- Fig. 28. Imported série ancienne chlorite vessels with 'hut model', vegetal and geometric designs found at Tarut (after Zarins 1978: nos 127, 114, 50, 119, 109, 271, 25, 113, 131, 51, 569, 306, 66, 101, 53, 139, 111, 110).

Fig. 29. Imported second millennium BC chlorite bowls, beakers and lids with dotted decoration found at Tarut (after Zarins 1978: nos 551, 246, 586, 595, 129, 565, 252, 300, 104, 384, 107, 332, 331, 547, 130, 37, 594, 40, 136) -- Fig. 30. Imported série ancienne chlorite bowl with vegetal design found at Tarut (after Cotty 2010 -- compare Zarins 1978: no. 51 -- see Fig. 28.10 above) -- Fig. 32. Map showing sites in the Persian Gulf and south-east Iran -- Fig. 33. Imported chlorite bowl sherd with drilled repair hole, found at Ur. H 3.8 cm -- estimated rim D 25 cm. Incised below the rim on the exterior with a single row of centrally-dotted double concentric circles, below three horizontal lines -- worn surface -- Fig. 34. Fragments of an inported série ancienne dark grey chlorite bowl found at Ur with added Mesopotamian inscription on the interior referring to the lands of Elam and Marhashi. BM 116455 (photograph: © The British Museum) -- Fig. 35. Imported and locally made stone vessels found in an Early Dynastic temple dump at Adab. 1: chlorite, described as 'blue freestone' -- 2: 'soft limestone' -- 3: 'grey sandstone' -- 4-6: possibly chlorite, described as 'porphyry' -- 7-11: limestone, simply -- Fig. 36. Imported carved Jiroft-type 'Figurative Style' straight-sided chlorite bowl (or box) fragment found at Adab. It shows a row of bare-chested male musicians wearing knee-length loin-cloths, hats and braided hair playing lyres and a drum, followed b -- Fig. 37. Imported carved Jiroft-type 'Figurative Style' vessel fragment found at Adab with original inlays partially surviving. One of the loin-cloths is inlaid with what is described as ivory but is more likely to be polished shell, and a fragment of lap -- Fig. 38. Stone vessels and a gold beaker excavated from the 'Royal Cemetery' at Ur (photograph: © The British Museum).

Fig. 39. Plan of Grave 1315 in the 'Royal Cemetery' at Ur showing the position of stone vessels (6-8) along with other grave-goods.