Roads of Arabia

12 Arabie US p170-207_CM_BAT.qxd 23/06/10 21:46 Page 202
ROADS OF ARABIA
North-Eastern Arabia (circa 5000–2000 BC)
68. Globular jar
c. 3000–2250 BC
Painted pottery
H. 10 cm; Diam. 4.5–11.5 cm
Abqaiq, tomb AGM13
National Museum, Riyadh, 1199
69. Vessel
2200–1800 BC
Painted pottery
H. 15.6 cm; Diam. 7.4–12 cm
Tarut, al-Rufayah
National Museum, Riyadh, 1164
70. Cylindrical jar
2000–1800 BC
Pottery with red slip
H. 22.5 cm; Diam. 14 cm (rim diam. 10.5 cm)
Dhahran, tomb B 28
National Museum, Riyadh, 196
71. Ovoid vessel
2000–1800 BC
Pottery with red slip
H. 24 cm; Max. diam. 17 cm
Dhahran
National Museum, Riyadh, 181
Bibliography: Piesinger 1983, fig. 61; Zarins 1989, fig. 11, no. 6.
Bibliography: Zarins 1989, fig. 6, no. 20; Burkholder 1984, fig. 30 and p. 197.
Bibliography: Riyadh 2009, p. 172; Al-Mughannam and Warwick 1986, p. 24, pl. 20.
Bibliography: Riyadh 2009, p. 104.
This pottery, decorated with a painted band of stylized goats, was
imported from south-eastern Iran. Many similar vessels have been
unearthed at Bampur, Damin, Khurab, Miri Qalat, Tepe Yahya and
other sites in Baluchistan. This type of delicately painted pottery was
highly prized in eastern Arabia, where numerous examples have been
found. The discovery of an identical jar in the fort on Tarut Island (see
opposite) suggests that certain models were
produced in series.
M. C
Several jars of this type have been found on other sites of the Saudi
coast and in the Dilmun period graves on Bahrain. It is thought that
these large containers held a liquid used in funeral rites. Such vessels
were exported to the Oman Peninsula; they have been found at Shimal,
Sur, al-Munayi, Tell Abraq and Kalba, 1 and even to southern
Mesopotamia (Ur and Larsa 2 ). M. C.
1. Mery et al. 1998, p. 169 and 178.
2. Wooley et al. 1974, pl. 52. XII.
This type of vessel is very common in Dilmun graves but almost
never in dwellings, which suggests an exclusively funerary function. 1
The red slip characteristic of this production would continue to be
used through the Kassite period (middle of the 2nd millennium
BC.) M. C.
1. Paris 1999, cat. no. 13, p. 59.
Globular jar decorated with ibexes, Tarut,
Dammam Museum, 1162
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