The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project: The Ceramic Repertoire from the Early Pottery Neolithic to the Sasanian Period

Abstract

This article presents a preliminary study of the pottery collected during the 2012 and 2013 campaigns of the Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project in Iraqi Kurdistan. The report examines the morphology, distribution, and relative implications of a wide spectrum of ceramic types, spanning from the Early Pottery Neolithic to the Sasanian period. In particular, it focuses on the local aspects of the material culture, as well as on regional and transregional connections, and thus aims at placing the pottery assemblages in the broader perspective of upper Mesopotamia's diverse ceramic traditions. Despite its preliminary nature, this report embodies a substantial overview of the ceramics surveyed, which will serve as a departure point for future inquiries and more detailed analyses of the ceramic traditions of the upper Tigris region between the seventh millennium b.c. and the seventh century a.d.