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November 19, 2006
Friday Pot Blogging on Sunday
Today I want to share the most studied object in my study collection. Why is it the most studied? Because I really have no idea what it is other than a rather large potsherd.
For reference, the longest dimension is 12 cm not including the handle. The paste is grayish with little or no sign of gray core. The bowl is nearly spherical. The rim elevates slightly in the area of the handle attachment and the handle attaches slightly below the highest point of the rim. For a long time I thought, based on inspection of the outside that it was handmade but looking carefully at the inside I am now convinced it is wheel made. But I could be talked out of it. The inside is (hand?) burnished and both the inside and the outside show some signs of once having a rather thin reddish slip.
It is most likely that this sherd is from a hemispherical cuplike object. I once entertained the idea that it was a scoop but the bottom, just before the break, seems to begin an upward curve that would, if extended, complete the hemisphere. A scoop would be flat from the lowest point on. Did it once have two handles?
The thin red slip and the burnish make me think it is Iron Age. A rising rim at the point of handle attachment can also be seen in some Iron Age II dipper jars and juglets but I can find no parallel for this style of handle with this type of rising rim.
Over the years, I have imagined that this sherd was Chalcolithic (when I thought it was handmade) all the way to some Muslim period or other and almost every period in between. The truth is I still have no idea of its age or use. I do know that it was found somewhere in Palestine but where I have no idea. I acquired it when it was no longer associated with any archaeological context. My problem with this sherd is, of course, the classic problem of dealing with an artifact that is out of context. I would welcome ideas from anyone, particularly anyone who knows a well documented parallel that was found in context.
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Posted by Duane Smith at November 19, 2006 12:24 PM | Read more on Archaeology |
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