A Note on ‘Ubaid and Mitanni Pottery from Tell Brak

Extract

The purpose of this short note is two-fold. First, to present the very unexpected evidence for Hajji Muhammad pottery at Tell Brak, an occurrence of some considerable interest to Mesopotamian prehistorians. Second, to publish three vessels from the Mitanni palace and a unique example of transcaucasian type of sufficient interest in themselves to merit their preliminary publication, however brief. A final report on the Mitanni buildings and their contents is envisaged after the completion of the forthcoming season.

The Hajji Muhammad sherds are without context. Two deep soundings in Area CH have reached levels with predominantly ‘Ubaid pottery, but these levels are to be dated at the very end of the ‘Ubaid sequence. Unfortunately the earlier ‘Ubaid levels lie at inaccessible depths within the tell. Some pottery from the latest ‘Ubaid deposits is illustrated here, in particular a number of sherds with “eye” motifs, which provide a tempting argument for the existence of an ‘Ubaid Eye Temple at Brak. It must be emphasized, however, that at present we have no other evidence to support such a suggestion, although the outer wall of a possibly Early Uruk religious building in CH was identified in 1986 (Plate XXXI, a).

Of the greatest interest are the three sherds illustrated below, together with a single example of the most common Hajji Muhammad type: a bowl with flaring sides and dense cross-hatching on the interior (Plate XLV, 5; cf. Oates and Oates 1976, 56). The Brak example comes from fill in the Eye Temple deposits, and is the only specimen of this very distinctive type found so far in Northern Mesopotamia.