Pottery

Prehistoric pottery

Every summer we excavate thousands of sherds and dozens of whole pots in the Neolithic village of Tell Sabi Abyad. At present an international team of archaeologists and pottery experts is studying the prehistoric pottery.

During the long period of occupation at Tell Sabi Abyad (ca. 6800 to 5800 BC) the pottery changes drastically: from coarse and undecorated to technologically complex and stilistically highly refined. At Tell Sabi Abyad we can follow these changes closely.

At first we find this new pottery in modest proportions, but very soon it increases in quantity and at a certain stage virtually all pottery is painted Fine Ware. It is hand-made, of a fine clay, it has delicate thin-walled shapes and is often beautifully painted, in a complex style, with a dark, slightly glossy paint. This style is a result of 'foreign' influences. The pottery strongly resembles the pottery we know from Iraq.

The amazing decoration on the pottery is almost completely geometrical and abstract. Some bowls, however, have pictures of plants, animals, or, in a very rare case, human beings. A very remarkable picture is that of a group of - male? - figures, wearing short skirts and equipped with bows and arrows. Are they hunters? Or maybe a group of inhabitants from Tell Sabi Abyad joining in a dance?

The people from Tell Sabi Abyad sometimes got their pottery from distant regions. The so-called Dark-Faced Burnished Ware, for example, is from western Syria. Because of the compact clay this pottery is very suitable for cooking and that is what the inhabitants of Tell Sabi Abyad used it for. Possibly they imported the luxurious, heavily painted eating and drinking service that we found at Tell Sabi Abyad from Iraq.

Broken pots were not discarded, but, if possible, they were glued with bitumen, natural asphalt, or holes were drilled on either side of the break, so that a piece of string or leather could hold the bits together.

A special find was the coarse pottery painted with what appears to be bitumen. Chemical analyses show that the bitumen came from far. The closest source is about 500 km away from our prehistoric village.

Another extraordinary discovery: the oldest pottery of Syria! In the autumn of 2003 we started with the large-scale excavations on the north-west side of Tell Sabi Abyad, an area till then barely investigated. Immediately below the surface of the mound we came upon the remains of dwellings containing very simple pottery, which dates between 6800 and 6200 BC. The vessels are made by hand and relatively coarse in nature. We have found bowls and large pots exclusively. Very characteristic are the pots with handles.

Do you want to know more about this oldest pottery of Syria? Go to: the oldest pottery  and to: prehistoric pottery