Pottery

Assyrian pottery

Each year the excavations into Assyrian layers of occupation have yielded tens of thousands of sherds and many complete pieces of pottery: dishes, jars and bowls. The type of the pottery that has been found on the floors of the buildings gives us important information about the use of the areas: kitchen, storage room, living room.

The Assyrian pottery has a number of typical shapes that we find all over the Assyrian kingdom. It seems as if each Assyrian household used a standard type of crockery. Characteristic are the shallow bowls with carinated walls. There are large oval storage jars, pottery sieves, and jar stands to keep the jars from falling over. Also there are enormous storage containers for hundreds of litres of grain per container.

The pottery at Tell Sabi Abyad was made by a potter who specialized in this kind of pottery. Presumably he was employed by the government; this is suggested by a cuneiform text in which the potter is specifically mentioned. Within a short time he'd make enormous quantities of pottery for the entire settlement and maybe for other places as well. His workshop and three kilns were recently excavated. In the workshop we found unfired pottery, lumps of potter's clay and large quantities of wasters: misshapen or cracked vessels. Often the potter tried to repair these breaks with gypsum.

In those days the pottery was hardly ever decorated. Fortunately the potter had some time to spare now and again for artistic extras: for a pot with an application of deer and dogs on it or for a large dish showing on its rim a little figure clasping a smaller dish.