Archaeological Material from Kish

Field Museum of Natural History

• • These objects are from the Kish collection of the Field Museum. Kish was an early Mesopotamian city-state on the banks of the Euphrates. It emerged as a major social and political force in the region in about 3000 BC (the Early Dynastic Period) and eventually controlled all of Sumer and Akkad. Even after it was absorbed into later, larger empires, it remained an important religious center until the 700s AD, when it was destroyed. 
• ⁃ The site was excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by a joint expedition of the Field Museum and Oxford University. The finds and excavation records were divided between the Iraqi National Museum, The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the Field Museum.
• ⁃ The Kish objects treated by this project were primarily ceramic, but also included stone, stucco, and metal. They underwent conservation for a variety of problems including: damage caused by the presence of dissolved salts; improper handling; and/or the failure of earlier, undocumented restorations (either in storage or during desalination treatment). Partial or complete reversals of earlier restorations were also undertaken where appropriate.
• • The stone vessel dates to the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2350 B.C.). The round bottom jar and the wide bodied jar are not dated in the catalog; stylistically they could be from the Jamdat Nasr (3100-2900 B.C.), Early Dynastic (2900-2350 B.C.), or Akkadian (2350-2150 B.C.) periods.
• • Condition and Treatment Reports:
• ⁃ Stone Vessel: Report (PDF), Photos (PDF)
• ⁃ Round Bottom Jar: Report (PDF), Photos (PDF)
• ⁃ Wide Bodied Jar: Report (PDF), Photos (PDF)