Two offering footed cups or trays
- Iran, south-east of the Caspian Sea
- Tepe Hissar culture
- 2nd half of the 3rd millenium B.C.
- Alabaster. Breaks stuck back on the trays, no major gap; a few filling ups
- Height: 34 cm and 31 cm
- Formerly Josef Mueller collection, acquired in 1955.
- INV. 241-44 ; 241-45
The mound called Tepe Hissar is situated very close to the modern city of Damghan, on the southern slope of the oriental extremity of the Elbourz Range that dominates up north the Plain of Gorgan, where dozens of archaeological sites can be found. A mission from the Pennsylvania University, conducted by E. F. Schmidt [1] excavated Tepe Hissar in 1931-1932.
Schmidt discovered three prehistorical levels that can be dated between 3200 and 2000 B.C. The most recent layer, called III, belonging to the Early Bronze Age (the phase II being situated in the Chalcolithic), can be subdivided into A, B and C and is approximately contemporaneous with the kingdom founded in Mesopotamia by Sargon, therefore situated between the Early Dynastic Sumerian and the Neo-Sumerian (ca. 2400 to 2100 B.C.).
In the layer IIIC, rich in ceramics, where long-beaked jugs were excavated (precursors of the vases we so often see in the Iron Age, one thousand five hundred years later), many alabaster receptacles have been found, with very different shapes. In his main work on the archaeology of Ancient Iran, sometimes outdated, it is true, by new discoveries, L. Van den Berghe reproduced a group of alabaster objects, amongst which a high-footed offering bowl or tray, absolutely similar to ours, and another with a thicker and lower foot [2]. Both of them were found during Schmidt’s excavations and belong to the IIIC period.
Published in: Zimmermann 1991, fig. 15, p. 22.
- Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller
- Le profane et le divin, arts de l’Antiquité. Fleurons du musée Barbier-Mueller, musée Barbier-Mueller & Hazan (éd.), 2008 : p. 276.
