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Administrators' bread: an experiment-based re-assessment of the functional and cultural role of the Uruk bevel-rim bowl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jill Goulder
Jill Goulder*
Affiliation:
*Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK (Email: jill@jgoulder.com)
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Abstract

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Well-designed experimental archaeology combined with ingenious social argument show that a type of coarse-ware pottery, the BRB, performed a key role in early Mesopotamian governance. Its thick walls and conical shape produce a fine loaf of risen bread, supplied perhaps as tasty recompense to those undertaking the newly-proliferating public administrative duties.

Keywords

Urukbevel-rim bowlBRBbread
Type
Research articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 324 , June 2010 , pp. 351 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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