Title: Stone Bowl
Location: Found at Khafajeh
Period: Bronze Age
Date: -2600/-2400
Culture: Mesopotamian
Medium: Chlorite
Dimensions: Height: 10.90-11.20cm, Exterior Rim Diameter: 17.80cm, Interior Rim Diameter: 17.00cm, Bowl Volume: 2100.00ml
Repository: The British Museum
Discovered in land that was once a part of a Mesopotamian trading route, this aged, cracked, and faded chlorite bowl is etched with carvings of men wrangling, holding, and coexisting with beasts. The bowl was most likely crafted in Tepe Yahya, Iran, a location respectively known for its stones and production. From the same period, objects similar to the stone bowl have been found in Near Eastern areas as well. Likely related to Iranian mythology, the detailed carvings found across the outside of the bowl shows a man with two crouched lions on his flanks, a wrangled snake in each of his hands, hump-backed bulls beyond the lions, a moon beyond the bulls, and trees dispersed throughout the engraving.
References:
Photo Credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum
The British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1936-1217-2
Google Arts and Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/stone-bowl/-AFn9_QiFZ-JHA
