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591

A new Bactrian find from southeastern Arabia

D.T. POTTS"
A new and handsome find, a decorated bone comb from Tell Abraq in the United Arab Emirates dated about 2100-2000 BC, provides another link between eastern Arabia and the distant Bactrian lands.
The site and context The purpose of this short note is to report t h e discovery, o n 11 February 1993, of a decorated bone comb (TA 1649) in a context datable to c. 2100-2000 BC at the site of Tell Abraq, emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, United I), the Arab Emirates. Tell Abraq (FIGURE largest prehistoric site on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf, is the only multi-period site i n s o u t h e a s t e r n Arabia w i t h a c o n t i n u o u s sequence of occupation

extending from the middle of the 3rd to the m i d d l e of t h e 1 s t m i l l e n n i u m BC (Potts 1990; 1991; 1993). The early settlement at the site was dominated by a fortification tower made of stone and mudbrick, 40 m in diameter and 8 m high. Fortifications of this sort, of which the Tell Abraq exemplar is the largest found to date, are well-known features at sites i n t h e Oman p e n i n s u l a dating to the so-called Umm an-Nar period
(C.

2500-2000 BC).

II

ELAM

-IJPAN CENTRES

I
FIGURE 1. Tell Abraq.

* School of Archaeology, Classics & Ancient History, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

ANTIQUITY 6 7 (1993): 591-6

592

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Ten metres west of the fortress is a contemporary tomb. Like the fortresses of this period, the tombs were circular. The Tell Abraq tomb, diameter c. 6 m, is divided into two chambers by an internal crosswall. A passage at the southern end of the wall links the eastern and western chambers. This year, under the supervision of J.N. Benton (University of Sydney), a n d with the assistance of Prof. A. Goodman (Hampshire College, USA), Prof. D. Martin (Hampshire College, USA), a n d Prof. a n d Mrs R.V.S. Wright (University of Sydney), the western chamber was excavated completely. The internal deposit, which was preserved to a height of c. 1.30 m , contained a minimum number of 155 individuals representing all age groups [adult MNI 121). Here, in addition to a variety of ceramic and stone vessels, copperlbronze rings and spearheads, ostrichegg shell fragments (presumably from once complete vessels), beads and feeding shells

(Ficus subintermedia dOrbiny 1852, so-called because of the ethnographic evidence for their use by the local population for feeding liquids to infants), a decorated bone comb was discovered. The comb and its date The comb (FIGURE 2a & b) is 11 cm long, 8.2 cm wide (max.), and 0.4 cm thick. Roughly one third of its teeth were missing or so fragile that they broke upon first contact with a small brush during cleaning. Otherwise, it is completely intact. The upper part of the comb is crescentic. The body extends down each side in the form of a 1-cm wide strip flanking the teeth. Both sides of the body of the comb are decorated identically with a set of three double-dotted circles arranged in a triangle. On either side of the dotted circles is a stylized flower with two upward-curving, dentate or crenate leaves, a long stem a n d three lotus- or tulip-like petals.

FIGURE 2 a & b. The Tell Abraq

comb. (TA 1649; 1 1 x 8.2 x 0.4 cm.)

NOTES

593

While we hope soon to acquire 14C dates from b u r n t bone discovered i n the tomb, several indications already narrow down its date to t h e very e n d of the Umm an-Nar period. A burnt deposit excavated i n 1989 and 1993, which ran just under the surface linking the base of the tomb with the base of the fortress, yielded two dates of 2130 BC (K5574) and 2190 BC (K-5575) (calibrated after Pearson & Stuiver 1986), t h u s providing a secure terminus post q u e m for the tomb. A date between c. 2100 a n d 2000 BC is suggested by the pottery, with treatment (e.g. string-cut bases) and temper characteristic of the following Wadi Suq period (c. 2000-1300 BC), whereas the shapes appear to be in the Umm an-Nar tradition. The painted decoration is clearly transitional, for it represents a stylized, simplified version of classical Umm an-Nar decoration. Thus, I would refer the tomb to the terminal U m m an-Nar p e r i o d , at the e n d of the known sequence of excavated Umm an-Nar tombs, beginning with the tombs on Umm an-Nar island itself (c. 2500-2300 BC), followed by Tomb A at Hili North a n d Mowaihat i n Ajman (2300-2100 BC), a n d finally by the Abraq tomb (c. 2100-2000 JX).

of Bampur in southeastern Iran by Sir Aurel Stein (Stein 1937: plate IX, Bam.A.33). None of those combs bears the distinctive floral motif of the Abraq exemplar. We find a strikingly similar pair of long-stemmed flowers on a series of soft-stone flasks (FIGURE 3) found during illicit excavations in southern Bactria (northern Afghanistan) in the 1970s a n d published in 1984 by M.-H. Pottier (Pottier 1984: figures 19.143-144, 20.145, 150; cf. plate XX). The tripartite flower, crenate or dentate leaves a n d long, curved stem are closely replicated, a n d i n two cases the flowers are shown i n pairs symmetrically flanking a central object (Pottier 1984: figure 20.145 (on either side of a plant), 150 (either side of a winged female deity)). Although scientific excavations at other sites in northern Bactria (southern

Discussion Even a cursory examination of the literature on combs i n Western Asia (e.g. Spycket 1976-1980) shows that a comb is hardly a n everyday discovery in a late-3rd-millennium context. The interest of the Tell Abraq find is amplified by the decoration it hears. On first reflection one looks to the Indus Valley for c o m p a r a n d a where, i n Mature Harappan contexts, bone a n d ivory combs with dotted-circle decoration have been found at Mohenjo-Daro (Marshall 1931: 532; Mackay 1937: plate XCI.26 = plate CXXV.24), Harappa (Vats 1940: plate CxIX.6), Chanhu-Daro (Mackay 1943: plate CXXXII.13 & 2 1 , plate CXXXIV.4), a n d Kalibangan (Thapar 1979: plate XXVII). In 1985/6 an ivory comb with dotted-circle decoration, thought to be a n Harappan import, was discovered at Ras alJunayz on the eastern tip of Oman in a context FIGURE 3. A soft-stone flask from Bactria (northern (period 11) now dated by the excavators to Afghanistan) showing a winged female deity (?I c. 2400-2200 BC (Cleuziou 1992: 97). In 1932 flanked b y two flowers similar to those shown on a wooden (?) comb with dotted-circle decor- the comb from Tell Abraq. (After Pottier 1984: plate ation was found at the 3rd-millennium BC site 20.150.) It i s just over 6 cm tall.

594

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Uzbekistan) have yet to yield combs with this decoration, they have produced bone combs (Sarianidi 1977: figure 24, lower left); and the dotted-circle is well-represented on soft-stone vessels in Bactria (e.g. Pottier 1984: figure 20.147, 151-153) as well as on bone and ivory sticks a n d so-called gaming pieces from Turkmenistan (cf. Masson & Sarianidi 1972: figure 29a: Masson 1981: figure 6). Given the absolute rarity of combs, it comes as no surprise to find that no precise parallel on an extant comb can be adduced. As the very particular representation of the flower on the Abraq comb finds a perfect parallel in Bactria, it may be suggested that the Tell Abraq comb is an import from that area. Identification of the flowering plant depicted on the comb is a difficult if not impossible task. After examining a drawing, Mr James P. Mandaville, Jr (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), author of the recently published Flora of eastern Saudi Arabia (London, 1992), observed that none of the wild flowers of Arabia resembled it. He writes (letter of 1 7 March 1993):
My impression is that this plant may be largely attributable to genetic engineering by its artist. This is mainly because of the discordance between the flower and leaf form. The best possibility that comes to mind in terms of petal shape is an iris (although some petals should be more deflexed). A tulip or a poppy might be other possibilities, assuming some artistic license. In the case of the iris or a tulip, however, the leaves should be entire and sublinear (straight margined without lobing). In the case of a poppy and its relatives, the leaves should be much more sharply and deeply lobed and dissected. I would note, however, that some irises have undulate leaves (wavy in the vertical plane), and this might lead some artist to show them somewhat as appearing here (crenate or dentate). In Arabia we have tulips only in the far northwest Hijaz mountains. We do have an iris or two (but probably not in the far east, or UAE area). Poppies are found as weeds sometimes in wheat cultivation, or perhaps wild over in the Hijaz.

Mandaville also remarked that a species of tulip with undulate leaves does exist which thus might appear crenate if viewed from a certain angle. The leaves are narrower and more acute than the ones i n your drawing, however (letter of 18 March 1993). The lower two leaves of Tulipa boeotica, which is native to Asia, indeed have undulate margins (see

e.g. the photograph i n Polunin 1980: plate 58.1627d) which could have led an artist to depict them in this manner. Indeed the mountain tulip (TuIipa montana Lindl.), which ocurs in Asia Minor and Afghanistan, bears a remarkable likeness to the flower on the Tell Abraq comb. It is long-stemmed; has lanceolate-linear leaves with undulate margins which are mainly centred at the base of the stem; and has six petals which appear as three in profile. Furthermore, it is native to Afghanistan (Zohary 1982: 180; my thanks to Dr L. Rodriguez for bringing this reference to my attention). The possibility that the flower is a species of Tulipa, a Eurasian-wide genus (Good 1961: 89), is particularly interesting in view of M.-H. Pottiers discussion of the flowers on the Bactrian flasks. Suggesting these are tulips, she notes that, nowadays, spring on the steppes of Central Asia is marked by the appearance of thousands of tulips, for which reason the tulip has become the symbol of Turkmenistan. In antiquity, she suggests, the widespread blossoming of the tulip may have made the flower a symbol of fertility (Pottier 1984: 76 and n. 60). Yet in later Zoroastrian tradition, the tulip, although mentioned in the Pahlavi Book of Creation, Bundahishn, is not named as one of the 30 flowers identified with a specific archangel or angel whose names were associated with the days of the month (Laufer 1919: 192-3): the tulip was not always significant in the ancient Iranian-Central Asian tradition. The rarity of bone and ivory combs in the archaeological record results not only from the soil conditions of Western Asia. They seem to have been very rare and costly items in antiquity which were never numerous. Two Old Babylonian texts from Ur list items brought back from a trading expedition to Dilmun (Bahrain) and then dedicated to the Nanna-Ningal temple complex (Oppenheim 1954: 7; cf. Leemans 1960: 26, 2 9 ) , which include single combs, UET V 678 (undated; S.V. 1. 1 2 , ga-rig zii-am-si, 1 comb of ivory) and UET V 292 (dated to the 8th year of the reign of Sumuel, i.e. 1886 BC acc. Middle Chronology: S.V.I1 19, gi5ga-rig(for the reading ga-rig vs. ga-zum cf. Edzard 1976-80), 1 comb) (cf. also the attestation of ivory combs in an Old Babylonian text from Susa, Oppenheim 1954: 11,n.20).

NOTES

595

The owner of the Tell Abraq comb was clearly an Blite individual in possession of a very rare a n d exotic piece of personal equipment. This Bactrian comb in southeastern Arabia should be seen i n the context of the southward spread of the Bactrian-Murghab Archaeological Complex (Sarianidi 1987: 44; cf. Hiebert & Lamberg-Karlovsky 1992: 1). Materials of Bactrian affinity have now been identified at a number of sites in the IndoIranian borderlands, including Shahdad, Khinaman, Tepe Yahya and Khurab in Iran; a n d Mehi, Quetta, Mehrgarh a n d Sibri i n Pakistan (the relevant literature conveniently referenced in Hiebert & Lamberg-Karlovsky 1992). Whether interpreted as the manifestation of an Aryan invasion (cf. Sarianidi 1987; Parpola 1988) or not (e.g. Shaffer 1986: 93), there seems little doubt that a major phenomenon of contact extending from the steppes of Central Asia to the shores of the Arabian Sea took place around 2000 BC. Pedestalled
References CLEUZIOU, S. 1992. The Oman peninsula and the Indus civilization: a reassessment, Man and Environment 1712: 93-103. DlJRING CASPERS, E.C.L. 1992. Intercultural/ mercantile contacts between the Arabian Gulf a n d S o u t h Asia at t h e close of t h e 3rd millennium BC, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 22: 3-28. EDZARD, D.O. 1976-1980. Kamm A. Philologisch, Reallexikon der Assyriologie 5: 332. GOOD, R. 1961. The geography of t h e flowering plants. London: Longman. HIEBERT, F.T. & C.C. LAMBERG-KARLOVSKY. 1992. Central Asia and the Indo-Iranian borderlands, Iran 30: 1-15. KOHL, P.L. (ed.). 1981. The Bronze Age civilization of Central Asia: recent Soviet discoveries. Armonk (NY): M.E. Sharpe. LAUFER, B. 1919. Sino-Iranica: Chinese contributions to the history of civilization in ancient Iran, with special reference to the history oj cultivated plants and products. Chicago (IL): Field Museum. Publication 201. LEEMANS, W.F. 1960. Foreign trade in t h e Old Babylonian period. Leiden: Brill. MACKAY, E.J.H. 1937. Further excavations at Mohenjo-Daro 11. Delhi: Government of India. 1943. Chanhu-Daro excavations 1935-36. New Haven (CT): American Oriental Series 20. J. 1931. Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus MARSHALL, civilization 11. London: Arthur Probsthain.

ceramic and bronze vessels from Bahrain and Asimah (Ras al-Khaimah) have recently been discussed in the context of contact between the Gulf and Central Asia (During Caspers 1 9 9 2 ) , a n d the close parallel between a square-based, soft-stone flask with dottedcircle decoration from Tomb A at Hili North (Cleuziou & Vogt 1985: 255-7 and figure 4.5) and similar soft-stone vessels from Bactria has long been recognized. We know from the ceramics, seals and stone vessels recovered during the first four seasons at Tell Abraq that the site was in contact with Babylonia, Elam, Dilmun, southern Iran and the Indus Valley during the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC (Potts 1990; 1991; 1993). The unexpected discovery of the Tell Abraq comb n o w shows us that Bactria must be added to that list. There is little doubt that the comb represents a noteworthy addition to the growing corpus of Bactrian material from eastern Arabia and the Indo-Iranian borderlands.
MASSON,V.M. 1981. Urban centers of early class societies, in Kohl (ed.): 135-48. MASSON, V.M. & V.I. SARIANIDI. 1972. Central Asia: Turkmenia before the Achaemenids. New York (NY): Praeger. OPPENHEIM, A.L. 1954. The seafaring merchants of Ur, Journal of the American Oriental Society 74: 6-17. PARPOLA, A. 1988. The coming of the Aryans to Iran a n d India a n d the cultural a n d e t h n i c identity of t h e Dasas, Studia Orientalia 64: 195-302. PEARSON, G.W. & M.V. STUIVER. 1986. Highprecision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 500-2500 BC, Radiocarbon 28: 838-52. P O L U N I N , 0 . 1980. Flowers of Greece and the Balkans: a field guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. POSSEHL, G.L. (ed.). 1979. Ancient cities of t h e Indus. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. POTTIER, M.-H. 1984. M a t h i e l funeraire de la Bactriane meridionale d e IAge d u Bronze. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations. POTTS, D.T. 1990. A prehistoric m o u n d in t h e Emirate of U m m al-Qaiwain: excavations at Tell Ahraq in 1989. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. 1991. Further excavations at Tell Abraq: the 1990 season. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. 1993. Rethinking some aspects of trade i n the Arabian Gulf, World Archaeology 24: 423-40. SARIANIDI, V. 1977. Bactrian centre of ancient art, Mesopotamia 12: 97-110.

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1987. South-west Asia: migrations, the Aryans a n d Zoroastrians, Information Bulletin 13: 44-56. SHAFFER, J.G. 1986. T h e archaeology of Baluchistan: a review, Newsletter of Baluchistan Studies 3: 63-111. SPYCKET, A. 1976-1980. Kamm B. Archaologisch, Reallexikon der Assyriologie 5: 332-5. STEIN, M.A. 1937. Archaeologicnl reconnaissances

in north-western India and south-eastern Iran.

THAPAR,B.K. 1979. Kalibangan: a Harappan metropolis beyond the Indus Valley, in Possehl
(ed.): 196-202. VATS, M.S. 1940. Excavations at Harappa 11. Calcutta: Government of India. ZOHARY, M. 1982. Plants of the Bible. London: Cambridge University Press. London: Macmillan.

Making stone vessels in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

DENYSA. STOCKS*
How were the fine stone jars and vessels of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia made? An experimental test of materials and techniques explores the methods of early drilling.
Similarities between the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods of Mesopotaniia (c. 3600-2900 BC) and the Gerzean a n d early dynastic periods of Egypt (c. 3500-2900 BC) include cylinder seals, the recessed panelled facade design in architecture, the use of pictographs, decorative art and the shapes of stone vessels. And craftsmen from Mesopotamia and Egypt necessarily developed similar tools and techniques for manufacturing stone vessels. In order to explore these similarities, I investigated the use of a specialized Egyptian tool in making a limestone vase. It is generally thought that the cold beating, or forging, of truly smelted and cast copper into tools and other artefacts first occurred in Egypt around 3500 BC (Hoffman 1980: 207), castings being made in rudimentary open moulds at this period (Petrie 1917: 6). Coldforged, cast copper tools were also manufactured in Mesopotamia (Moorey 1985: 40-46). The technique of beating copper into sheets must have existed in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, where vessels of this metal were found at Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley (Woolley 1955: 30-31). Sheet copper is essential to the making of copper tubes, indispensable tools for drilling out stone vessels. It is likely that rolling copper sheet into tubes imitated natures own architecture
- that of hollow reeds. The direct casting of

copper into open, tubular-shaped moulds may also have been adopted by both civilizations.

Stone vessel manufacturingtechnology In Mesopotamia, and Egypt, copper tubular drills were used for the initial hollowing of the interiors of vases and jars made from hard and soft stone (Woolley 1934: 380; Moorey 1985: 51; Reisner 1931: 180; Lucas 1962: 74). Striations are clearly visible on the inside walls of vessels, caused by the abrasive material employed with the drills. Although the stone-cutting, copper tubular drill has never been located, it would have been directly driven by a shaft of wood driven firmly into the top e n d (FIGUREl a ) and rotated by a bow-string (with the top of the shaft i n a stone bearing-cap], or twisted clockwise, and anti-clockwise by wrist action. It is unlikely that shafts were rolled between the palms. Subsequently, Mesopotamian and Egyptian bulbous vessels - those considerably wider inside than at the mouth - were further hollowed by grinding with another tool, a stone borer of elongated form. The mid-point of its long axis was made to narrow equally from both sides. Seen from above, the borer assumes the shape of a figure-of-eight,

* Department of Archaeology,University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 SPL, England. ANTIQLJITY 67 (1993): 596-603