Imagery with Goat Motif on Pottery Artifacts Remaining from the Bronze Age in Southeastern Part of the Iranian Plateau

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Applied Art, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeometry and Restoration, Faculty of Cultural Materials Conservation, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz,

10.22070/negareh.2020.3026

Abstract

The design of the animal motif of goat is one of the unique features of some pottery in the southeast of the Iranian Plateau in the ancient times, especially in the third millennium B.C., which helps to distinguish between the pottery of this area and other archaeological sites in the country. The goat images on prehistoric pottery in the southeast of Iran have been made in various forms, depicting semi-naturalism and abstraction (pectiform), or distinct racial components (long and crescent horns). In the present research, the animal motifs of wild goat on pottery of the archaeological sites of Shahr-i Sokhta (Burnt City), Tepe Sadegh in Sistan, Bampur, Keshik, Spidej and Chegerdak in Baluchistan have been studied. In general, they can be divided into the immobile, semi-animated and animated categories in terms of their imagery. In the present study it has been tried to explain these three categories in the aforementioned sites by introducing new samples of pottery in the southeastern region. The present study is descriptive-analytical, and it has used a variety of library-based descriptive methods as well as field studies (including repairing-related activities and technical studies conducted on pottery wares discovered from the Southeastern Iran) to gather required data.
Pottery has been the main source of artistic endeavors and desires for pre-historical people. This can be observed in the production of different forms of pots. The outer surface of pottery wares was like a canvas on which the painters and artists could depict their art and thoughts. Therefore, to better understand pre-historical people’s lifestyle, we can analyze the motifs depicted on pottery wares. An investigation on pottery motifs is considered significant because in a way, some of them are considered as pieces of script or writing, used by the artists to convey their concepts, thoughts, beliefs, and values.
Archeological studies have illustrated that goats have been first domesticated in Helali valley, located in Eastern Mediterranean region, while they have been domesticated in Iran’s Ganjdareh by 8000 BC. One of the oldest animated motifs in Iran is the goat motif on Shahr-i Sokhta’s goblet which has been registered as the first Iranian animation in history.
The third millennium BC (the Bronze Age) has been coincident with huge changes; this period’s exchange networks have been used to connect the biggest urban areas located in the Eastern and the Western Iran by trade roads. The most significant archeological sites in this region, that played a significant role in trade transactions, include Konar Sandal, Shahdad, Tepe Yahya, Tal-i Eblis, etc. in Kerman Province, and Shahr-i Sokhta, Bampour, Khourab, Damin, Spidej, Chegerdak, and Keshik in Sistan and Balouchistan.
This period’s art is turned into a balanced surface for holding holy rituals, while environmental and biological concepts have been used either to decorate handicrafts or to author great textbooks.
In Iran’s Southeastern archeological sites, including Shahr-i Sokhta, Keshik, Chegerdak, Bampour and Spidej, etc. intact and broken pottery wares have been discovered in different sizes. These pottery wares included animal motifs such as scorpions, rams, fish, birds, and goats which are easily identified considering this region’s particular ecology. Goat as one of the most prevalent animal motifs on Southeastern pottery wares can be found on different gray, red, and beige pots, either in form of a single animal in spate frames or a row of goats in black or brown, depicted one after another. Two hypotheses are presented for such motifs: 1) the artist has depicted a sequence of goats after each other, or 2) it is only one goat that is moving and jumping.
The animation is defined as a fast-consecutive illustration of a two-dimensional work of art or a real-life situation which creates an illusion of movement. It is worth mentioning that ​​the development of the concept of animated motifs and prehistoric artists’ acquaintance with the moving images or, in modern terms, with the animation, are neither random nor specific to the animation depicted on Shahr-i Sokhta goblet. There are many similar animations on Southeastern pottery works from Tepe Sadegh and Keshik cemetery as well. The artists have used different animal motifs such as fish, goat, and birds to create the illusion of movement.
Some of the prevalent motifs used on this period’s pottery wares depict goats standing under a tree, mating and feeding the kid, as abstract and stylized motifs in a single-frame and multi-frame format, in accordance with national folklore. Finally, animated motifs existed elsewhere in the Southeastern region, especially in Sistan and Balouchistan as well as Shahr-i Sokhta, and Tepe Sadegh as one of the associated sites to Shahr-i Sokhta. Keshick archeological site, located in Nikshahr, is another instance. Furthermore, semi-animated goat motifs exist on pottery wares taken from sites such as Shahr-i Sokhta and Chegerdak. The static motif of the goat is also observable on all pottery wares from the Southeastern part of Iran including Shahr-i-Sokhta, Keshik, Bampour, Spidej, and Chegerdak.

Keywords

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Negareh Journal
Volume 15, Issue 55
November 2020
Pages 101-119

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 June 2019
  • Revise Date: 05 October 2019
  • Accept Date: 22 November 2019

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