Stone vessel fragment

Unknown

5th–3rd millennium BCE · Alabaster · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This fragment of an alabaster vessel was excavated in 1937 at a prehistoric site in the vicinity of Nishapur in northeastern Iran. While Nishapur itself was founded by the Sasanian king Shapur I (reigned ca. A.D. 241-272), this object shows that human habitation there goes back to the prehistoric period. Furthermore, the prehistoric pottery from Nishapur has close affinities with ceramic materials from Central Asia rather than with contemporary sites in Iran, meaning that in this period its inhabitants were likely culturally linked to their neighbors to the east. At the same time, Nishapur’s location on what later became known as the Great Khorasan Road suggests that it was part of the trade network that facilitated the import of precious stones such as lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise from Central Asia to Mesopotamia. This fragment suggests that alabaster may have been traded as well, and that Nishapur may have been one of the sites where the raw material was made into vessels and other objects that were in turn shipped on to western Iran and Mesopotamia.

Artist

Unknown

Date

5th–3rd millennium BCE

Medium

Alabaster

Culture

Iran

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1938