5. Bushel with Ibex Motifs 4,200-3,500 BCE Susa, Iran - Middle East
Materials and Techniques: Painted Terracotta, Handbuilt Ceramic or on slow wheel.
Description (Form): This piece is a cylindrical pot that tapers upward. Likely made by hand with coiling or a slow moving potters wheel. The designs are made up of a combination of stylized natural forms and patterns. Animals are depicted using twisted perspective.
Content: stylized natural forms and patterns including an Ibex, feathers and hunting dogs, are likely symbols but of what is unclear. They could be for a clan or family, the artist's signature, representations of deities, or simply documentation of important aspects of cultural life.
Context: Comes from the Fertile Crescent region, know for being one of the first civilizations to domesticate of agriculture. Dogs would have likely protected animals like goats and birds, and grains were their primary crops. This specific piece was discovered in a cemetery.
Intended Purpose: Because this specific pot was discovered in a cemetery with similar objects so it was likely partially funerary due to this context.
Innovations and Conventions: Innovations: emergence of Pottery and Funerary Art ; Conventions: twisted perspective, utilizing nearby resources (clay/terracotta)
