Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Golnaz Hossein-Mardi ¹
• Kamal Aldin Niknami ²

¹ Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto

² Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran

Abstract

The Dalma pottery of Seh Gabi Tepe, dating to the early Middle Chalcolithic, has been examined by means of experimental archaeology to see how it was decorated and how useful the experimental archaeology could be in studying the technology of pottery decoration. In the current paper, this experiment is viewed from a different angle to address questions about uniformity and diversity of decoration technology among the Dalma monochrome and bichrome ceramics. As technology has a social and cultural aspect, its analysis can help us to better understand the cultural setting of the society in which this type of pottery was produced. In the experiment, we focused on the brush strokes and method of applying paint to see if similar motifs were depicted with the same or different techniques, with various types of pigments and tools (e.g. type of brush) remaining to be investigated. The results indicate that the majority of the similar motifs were created with the same decoration techniques. However, some variations in the decoration of some ceramics could be observed.

Keywords

• Dalma painted pottery
• Monochrome and bichrome decorations
• Brush strokes
• Seh Gabi
• Experimental analysis