Pesquisando por: "Cream-colored Courser" - Fotoarena - Agência de fotojornalismo

alb3661606 Bowl. Culture: Sasanian. Dimensions: 3 × 6 in. (7.6 × 15.2 cm). Date: ca. 3rd-7th century A.D..Plain unglazed ceramics, like this cream colored bowl, are the most common type of pottery found during the Sasanian period. These plain vessels were part of the everyday household materials. Because ceramic material is so durable, clay artifacts are one of the most frequently recovered materials in the archaeological record. The bowl was excavated from a house at the site of Ma'aridh IV in the Ctesiphon area.The city of Ctesiphon was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, 20 miles (32 km) south of modern Baghdad in Iraq. It flourished for more than 800 years as the capital of the Parthians and the Sasanians, the last two dynasties to rule the ancient Near East before the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. Systematic excavations in the Ctesiphon area were undertaken by an expedition in 1928-29 sponsored by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft). The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, undertook a joint expedition for one season in 1931-32. Several excavations were conducted, including at the main palace (Taq-i Kisra), in a small fortified area south of the palace at Tell Dheheb, at multiple houses at the mounds of Ma'aridh, and at additional houses at a small mound called Umm ez-Za'tir.Over the course of the excavations in the Ctesiphon area, six houses from a series of small mounds called el Ma'aridh were excavated. These houses follow typical Sasanian design with a mix of square and elongated rooms. The house at Ma'aridh IV was partially excavated and the exposed portions show both service and reception areas of the house. In the northeast corner of the excavations two rooms, one with pillars, were decorated with stuccos. A large courtyard with four niches probably was the center of the house. The southwest rooms seem to be more functional in nature and may have served as service rooms. One room may have functioned as a bath as indicated by the water channels excavated. A large house such as Ma'aridh IV was clearly an elite household as demonstrated by its large size (1200 square meters were excavated) and the decorated rooms. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.