Archaeology Research

Huge congratulations to Daniel Calderbank on the publication of his new book Pottery from Tell Khaiber: A Craft Tradition of the First Sealand Dynasty 

The First Sealand period in Babylonia has long been obscure, despite the major changes that occurred in the area at that time. The defining characteristics of its ceramics are almost unknown, making identification of its sites through surface survey almost impossible. However, recent excavations at Tell Khaiber near Ur have uncovered a large fortified building of the period, with a dated administrative archive. The pottery from it represents the first substantial stratified corpus of Sealand period ceramics, providing a solid chronological sequence for the middle centuries of the 2nd millennium in southern Iraq. Using the latest methods and approaches, this volume not only establishes a typology and relative chronology, but also addresses the chaîne opératoire underpinning Sealand period pottery, from clay collection through to vessel use and discard.

First published: 13 December 2021