Ver-Ardashir

Materials

Ver-Ardashir. Glazed ceramic basket

For the entire Sasanian period, the materials associated with the stratigraphy of Veh-Ardashir document the best-dated stratigraphical sequence of the entire Middle East, thanks to the finding of numerous coins. They are therefore especially important and act as a fundamental reference catalogue for the knowledge and chronology of the Mesopotamian production of the period.

Ver-Ardashir. Glazed basin

They also provide a fundamental background for understanding the relationship with the previous Parthian period and the subsequent Islamic period. On one hand, the ceramics display many simple shapes, resulting from a process of morphological simplification that represented continuity, or an evolution of sorts, of the traditional Parthian and Seleucid production.

Ver-Ardashir. Incantation bowl

At the same time, more elaborate and original shapes that attested to the tastes of the new customers appeared, and continued to be produced up to early Islamic times. Typical shapes of the later period included the incantation bowl that were widespread throughout the central and southern Mesopotamian area and the large ovoid earthenware jars with barbotine decorations, which became typical of the subsequent Islamic period.

Ver-Ardashir. Glass vase

The glass artefacts, dating from the settlement’s oldest phases (i.e. the passage from the Parthian production to the Sasanian production) up to the 4th – 5th century A.D. (attested by an Iranian, imported and imitation production) are especially significant.