Pottery Cone
Clay
Chogha Mish
8.0 cm x 1.5 cm diam.
A64809
Oriental Institute Museum
Pottery Cone
Many buildings in ancient Mesopotamian cities had niched and buttressed walls with elaborate decoration. Some walls were covered in mosaics made of tens of thousands of clay or stone cones like the one shown here. These cones were set in a layer of mud plaster, and were arranged in geometric patterns. The round (exposed) ends of the cones would have been painted in colors such as red, black, or white.
Suggested Readings
Kramer, Samuel Noah. Cradle of Civilization. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1967.
Leick, Gwendolyn. A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Architecture. London: Routledge, 1988.
Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.
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