Atlas of the Assyrian Pottery of the Iron Age

Assyrian pottery of the Iron Age is a very special topic in Near Eastern archaeology: it is widely diffused, related to the expansion of the first real "empire" in Western Asia, and it is well characterized as far as its typology, manufacturing and decoration are concerned. Especially from the VIII cent. BC, the Assyrian policy of settlement in the conquered regions led to a capillary occupation of most of the available landscapes in the provinces: the result is a large amount of excavations with materials dating to this period. The Atlas aims to develop a global typology that can be applied to the whole Assyrian repertory, in order to highlight the main types and to define their precise chronology and diffusion in the various regions conquered by Assyrians.

Stefano Anastasio is in charge of the “Laboratory of Near Eastern Archaeology” of the University of Siena. Currently, he participates in the project “Building Archaeology in Jordan” of the University of Siena at the site of Umm es-Sarab (Jordan). He studied and published Assyrian pottery assemblages from Qasr Shamamok (Iraq) and from Tell Barri and a survey in the Khabur region (Syria).