Page 247 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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Levels 22-25, Barbar I

Plain Wares
Tlie complexity of the ceramic assemblages increases in the Barbar I levels.
Although the distinctive pre-Barbar forms carry on (compare, for example, 42b
with 46g, 42g with 46c, and 42e with 46d and 46f), new forms occur. These are
especially evident in Figure 45f-l and 45o where triple-grooved rims, generally
indicative of the Akkadian and Ur HI periods in Mesopotamia, are shown (Adams
1965, Gibson 1972). The sharply everted curving rim of a buff jar (fig. 45e) is also
common from the Ur m levels at Nippur (McGuire Gibson, personal
communication). Buff ware vessels with comb-incised horizontal and meandering
bands also make their appearance in Barbar I (levels 19-24), but represent only a
minor portion of the assemblage. There are also Ur m parallels for these forms at
Susa (Steve and Gasche 1971, Plate 2, no. 40). The buff wares in Figure 43 are
generally all sand-tempered, a feature not necessarily useful in eastern Arabia.
The triple-grooved jar 43o, however, contains flakes of muscovite indicating
secondary sand deposits as a source for temper. The presence of an igneous
mineral points to a regional proximity with igneous rocks, and perhaps with
southern Mesopotamia.

Included among the Barbar I plain wares are a variety of short- necked
jars (figs. 45a-d and 46a-f). Two rim forms among these have a direct bearing
upon the entire Barbar sequence. These are illustrated in Figures 45a-d, 50a-c,
and 50e-h. Both forms differ from other jars illustrated in that they are almost
consistently made of "Barbar ware." An earlier plain-rimmed form occurs with
both vertical and slightly everted rims (see, for example, fig. 45b, 45c, and 50e-h).
While Figure 40 shows this rim to be present throughout much of the stratified
sequence, Table 7 shows plain rims to be a minor constituent (less than 1 percent) in
all but the Barbar I levels. In levels 22 and 24 it attains 5.6 percent and 3.2
percent of the total sample. While not a firm marker of the Barbar I zones, its