Two vessels from different sites of the Iranian Plateau, dating to the late 4th or early 3rd millennium BCE are presented as palaeotechnological case studies. In the fractures of the vessels’ walls, interfaces left by added clay parts (enhanced in the two illustrations) are quite recognizable. It is proposed that in both cases potters, in order to construct the bases, used to make bowls comparable with two types of finished containers common in their repertories (respectively, a moulded bevelled rim bowl and a coil-built truncated-cone shaped one with a distinctive pointed rim). As a working hypothesis it is suggested that making open vessels to build on the rest of the vase was a technical template, possibly shared in the late 4th millennium across different regions of the Iranian Plateau. Scholars are encouraged to record the sections of their vessels showing joins among coils and other interfaces, as this palaeotechnological evidence is potentially very useful in assessing the historical meaning of wide “interaction spheres” traditionally considered only in terms of traditional ceramic morphological comparisons.
Vidale, M. (2011). A Vessel for Building Another Vessel.
A Technical Template of the Late 4th Millennium BCE
in the Central-Eastern of the Iranian Plateau?. Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies, 1(2), 9-16. doi: 10.22111/ijas.2011.463
MLA
Massimo Vidale. "A Vessel for Building Another Vessel.
A Technical Template of the Late 4th Millennium BCE
in the Central-Eastern of the Iranian Plateau?". Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies, 1, 2, 2011, 9-16. doi: 10.22111/ijas.2011.463
HARVARD
Vidale, M. (2011). 'A Vessel for Building Another Vessel.
A Technical Template of the Late 4th Millennium BCE
in the Central-Eastern of the Iranian Plateau?', Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies, 1(2), pp. 9-16. doi: 10.22111/ijas.2011.463
VANCOUVER
Vidale, M. A Vessel for Building Another Vessel.
A Technical Template of the Late 4th Millennium BCE
in the Central-Eastern of the Iranian Plateau?. Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies, 2011; 1(2): 9-16. doi: 10.22111/ijas.2011.463