A Vessel for Building Another Vessel. A Technical Template of the Late 4th Millennium BCE in the Central-Eastern of the Iranian Plateau?

Abstract

Two vessels from different sites of the Iranian Plateau, dating to the late 4th or early 3rd millennium BCE are presented as<br />palaeotechnological case studies. In the fractures of the vessels' walls, interfaces left by added clay parts (enhanced in<br />the two illustrations) are quite recognizable. It is proposed that in both cases potters, in order to construct the bases, used<br />to make bowls comparable with two types of finished containers common in their repertories (respectively, a moulded<br />bevelled rim bowl and a coil-built truncated-cone shaped one with a distinctive pointed rim). As a working hypothesis<br />it is suggested that making open vessels to build on the rest of the vase was a technical template, possibly shared in the<br />late 4th millennium across different regions of the Iranian Plateau. Scholars are encouraged to record the sections of their<br />vessels showing joins among coils and other interfaces, as this palaeotechnological evidence is potentially very useful in<br />assessing the historical meaning of wide “interaction spheres" traditionally considered only in terms of traditional ceramic<br />morphological comparisons.