Middle Eastern Antiquities

This is something I ran across that I have had packed away for years. These came from Syria many years ago. Unfortunately, the pot broke in transport but, consequently, all the pieces are there. I have another intact one packed away somewhere. The two pottery heads are quite small. About 2" and 1" respectively. The larger one is broken off from a body while the smaller one is entirely as made.

My understanding is that these were dug well over 50 years ago. I assume they came from Syria but suppose they could have come from some other surrounding country. I also assume these are burial offerings but have no first hand knowledge of that. I did not purchase these.

My research shows that the heads are probably offerings but am not sure of the cultural background. I found some from Israel that were similar and even more that had strange bird/fish-like features. The strange featured ones seemed to be related to pagan cult worship and, right now, I can't remember the name. I really did not find any context for the more normal featured ones. The pot probably contained food offerings. Besides sand, there were some tiny bones inside that may have come from a bird or other small animal.

I guess my questions are whether or not we can come up with any cultural context or age for these. I am not quite sure what to do with these. I will most likely keep the heads for now. The pot needs a better home for it than I can provide. Should I try to reassemble it? If so, what kind of glue should I use? Are these of any interest to a museum without verifiable context?

Thanks for any and all input on this!

 

The tall one reminds me of images of Ajax with his helmet resting back on his head.

 

Step away from the glue! I'd donate to a museum. Even without context, they'd love them. Your heads look Persian to me.

 

Conservators around here use Acryloid B-72 so if you're going to try to reassemble that's what I'd use. It's reversible with acetone and does the least to harm the body of the adhesives that are available at least as far as I know. (I volunteer at the state conservation lab a few times a month and that's what they/we use.)

 

Dagon, the fish god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon

 

Hi Brad, I came across some pictures of Scythian artifacts in a completely unrelated search earlier today. The head gear, facial features and beards are very similar to your two heads. Just thought I should tell you in case it might lead somewhere.
Maybe you could use mucilage glue if you want to reconstruct the bowl. I think that is very easy to remove if it's ever necessary.
I sure hope you can find the other bowl that's still in one piece and post pictures of it!

 

Thanks, I will have a look that direction when I get a chance. The other pot is packed away with some other pottery as part of my personal collection. I have an idea of where it is but it is buried among other boxes and can't get to it easily. If I do get to it in any kind of timely manner, I will be sure to post a pic.

In the meantime, here is a pot I found on the internet that appears to be very similar to the broken one. It was described as an "Ancient Bible lands pottery Iron Age age bowl: Time of the prophets ca 750 BC". The other one is smaller, more upright and has a smaller neck. Both are just very plain, unglazed, and with a built in bottom ring like this one for standing.

 

I love this post. "packed away" and "buried among other boxes." This is the story of my house! I know sort of where things are, but when I want them, they're always behind or under several other bins. Drat. And I thought it was just me.

 

Maybe we need to revive the tales from the hoard or Hoarder vs. storer threads ....

I have actually been making some progress with my hoard as can be seen by my last couple posts here. I am finding all kinds of things I have forgotten about. Unfortunately, this is all just in preparation for clearing out my storage unit. That stuff is all coming home to fill the space I just created.

 

Oh, lord. I don't even want to think about our storage unit. Haven't been in it in two years.

 

LOL! ...... I am doing taxes and realized that I spent over $800.00 on storage units last year. Time for that to end! I had two at the beginning of last year and am now down to one. I am making progress but my house is getting more packed despite some progress overall. I am really trying to keep from being seen on Hoarders sometime down the line.

 

My storage unit is a library. I've about four thousand books in it!

 

Been there lol most of my adult life, but I'm pretty well unhoarded...a very small hoard, but makes me nervous...when we cleaned out our storage so many things were ruined, covered with a icky layer of dust/dirt, feet on some furniture ruined/bases