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A Relief of a Bull from the Early Bronze AgeAuthor(s): Varda SussmanReviewed work(s):Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 238 (Spring, 1980), pp. 75-77Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1356518 .Accessed: 01/03/2012 10:51

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8/2/2019 A Relief of a Bull From the Early Bronze Age

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A R e l i e f o f a B u l l f r o m th e E a r l y B r o n z e A g e

VARDA SUSSMAN

Department of AntiquitiesJerusalem, Israel

A depiction of a bull in low linear relief wasnoted on the base of a holemouth jar from Beth-

yerah while assembling sherds to complete thevessel.' The vessel (fig. 1) was unearthed by theUniversity of Chicago expedition of 1963, directedby Professor H. Kantor and the late ProfessorP. Delougaz.2

The jar is handmade, with a wide, flat base and arim terminating in a sharp edge; the color of the

clay varies from brown to grey, and the same clay,diluted, served as a wash. The jar measures 0.37 min height and 0.42 m in width. It may be attributedto the second or third phase of the Early BronzeAge (ca. 3000-2500 B.c.), although on typologicalgrounds alone, since the material from the excava-tion is still unpublished, and absolute dates are notfixed for the occupational strata.

The position of the relief is puzzling. It seemsunlikely that the relief is a potter's mark; usuallythese were placed on the shoulder or the handle

where they would be visible. Nor is relief decora-tion suitable for the base of a jar used to storegrain. Although this relief is low enough not toimpair the vessel's stability, it certainly would havebeen invisible while the vessel was in use; the washthat still covers the well-preserved decorationsuggests that the vessel was moved infrequently.

The base of the vessel is in the shape of a disk towhich bands of clay were added during theconstruction of the jar. It is possible that duringconstruction the base was pressed on a flat surface

bearing an incised design, thus producing the lowlinear relief (fig. 2). Incised stones bearing repre-

sentations of human beings and animals areknown from Early Bronze Megiddo (Loud 1948:pls. 271-81) and Arad (dated to EB I by Amiran1972: 86); and the technique of impressing a designwhile the clay was leather-hard was also familiar topotters of the period, as evidenced by the use ofcylinder or stamp seals. Many seal impressionswere found at Beth-yerah, as well as at otherEBsites (Ben-Tor 1978: 2; Epstein 1972: 209-17;

Schulman 1976: 17, fig. 1). Whether the design wasstamped intentionally is a question that we cannotanswer; however, the relief itself is interesting andits style probably was influenced by the cylinder orstamp seals of the period.

Fig. 1. EB holemouth jar from Beth-yerah.

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ir-s:~~????:?ral'iiiiiilaiit:icii:aiiiiiit~

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?; *:::;*r:;l::""::"'::'I%$I;seisarii:l;;??:???~~?:+?*

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75

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76 VARDA SUSSMAN BASOR 238

Fig. 2. Relief of a bull on the base of the jar. Fig. 3. Drawing of the bull figure.

Description of the Relief

The subject of the relief is a quadruped with arectangular body (figs. 2, 3). Each leg terminates ina split hoof, indicating an animal which belongs tothe ungulates. The large head is represented inprofile, with only one nostril. A long tail tapersdownward, with its end split similarly to thehooves. The male organ is emphasized. The back isdrawn with a double line which forms a triangle.

Two horns extend forward, each from a separatebase at the rear of the head (instead of the front, asexpected). The posture of the quadruped, with itsstraight back and downward-bent head, suggeststhat a draft animal is indicated, either carrying aload or harnessed to a plow or wagon. All of theabove suggest the identification of the animal as abull.' The small projections from the horns andhead may be accidental; this may also be theexplanation of the double line describing the backof the animal,4 as any error the artist made could

not be erased from the stone or clay. Another

possibility would be to regard the upper line as aplowshaft or a rein, familiar from cylinder seals ofthis period (Amiet 1963: figs. 25, 26).

The bull is depicted in primitive style, but it isnevertheless very faithful in detail. The closeststylistic parallels are found on cylinder seals,which should be regarded as the main source ofinspiration. The linear style has parallels, particu-larly in the cylinder seal impressions from TellBrak, dated to EB II (Mallowan 1947: pl. 21: 12).

The bull is well known from the start of animaldomestication. In later prehistoric times, it servedin all agricultural work, e.g., plowing, threshing,etc., and was often depicted on ancient Egyptianmurals as well as on Mesopotamian carved stonevessels and cylinder seals. The bull also has sacralsignificance in almost all of the ancient cultures ofEgypt, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Crete, withmagical powers connected with fertility andstrength. Any of these reasons could have inspiredthe artist to choose the bull for decorating this

agricultural vessel.

NOTES

'The vessel is registered in the stores of the Israel Departmentof Antiquities as No. 63-2363. Permission to publish this find

was granted by Mr. A. Eitan, Director of the Department. Thephotograph is by Z. Radowan, and the drawing by MichalBen-Gal. A Hebrew summary was published by the writer inQadmoniot 11 (1978): 15.

2The vessel published here is from the Beth-yerah excava-

tions and is registered BY II-3L, from Trench E, Layer 5. I wishto express my thanks to my former teacher, Professor Helene

Kantor,for

permissionto

publishthis note

separately.'A carved head of a bull attributed to the same period wasalso uncovered at Beth-yerah (Bar-Adon 1962: 46).

4Additional lines to incised decorations also occur on theincised stones found at Megiddo (Loud 1948: pl. 279: 21, 23).

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1980 A BULL FROM THE EARLY BRONZE AGE 77

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amiet, P.1963 La glyptique syrienne archaique. Notes sur la

diffusion de la civilisation m6sopotamienne enSyrie du Nord. Syria 40: 57-83.

Amiran, R.1972 A Cult Stele from Arad. Israel Exploration Journal

22: 86-88.Bar-Adon, P.

1962 Another Bull's Head from Palestine. Bulletin of theAmerican Schools of Oriental Research 165:46-47.

Ben-Tor, A.1978 Cylinder Seals of the Early Bronze Age in Eretz-

Israel. Qadmoniot 11: 2-5 (Hebrew).

Epstein, C.1972 Early Bronze Age Seal Impressions from the Golan.

Israel Exploration Journal 22: 209-17.Loud, G.

1948 Megiddo II. Chicago: University of Chicago.Mallowan, M. E. L.

1947 Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar. Iraq 9:90-259.

Schulman, A. R.1976 The Egyptian Seal Impressions from En-Besor.

CAtiqot 11: (English series) 16-26.