Susa Potteries

By Mohammad-Reza Riazi

Susa is a famous name in Iran and in the world as it is the oldest city in the world, symbol of the earliest civilization in Iran and the world, the founder of calligraphy and writing, capital of Ilam (3000-645 BC), city of commerce, industry, science and art in the Parthian and Sassanid eras that eventually ceased to breathe and became remote. Gordon Child in his book, History of Mankind Evolution mentions three revolutions: the Neolithic, Urbanization and Industrial revolutions. The Neolithic revolution occurred between the tenth millennium until the 9^th century A.D. in regions of Iran and north of Mesopotamia. Mankind relinquished the era of hunting and desert dwelling and settled in areas suitable with his subsistence. Rural living began after humans settled and by domesticating animals and plants, farming, and agriculture, the innovation of crafts such as weaving, pottery, construction and engagement in ritual thinking they began new life. Gradually, by getting to know the surrounding world man expanded the territories of his knowledge and provided grounds for the evolution of civilization in all dimensions of material and spiritual life. Architectural pieces, ceramics and other artifacts obtained from the early human beings reveal the material and spiritual evolutionary course of people’s life in the Iranian plateau. Researchers hold climatic and environmental changes accountable for the great changes in humans’ life that occurred between the 10^th millennium and 9th century A.D. in parts of southwestern Asia (Iran, northern Iraq, Turkey and Syria). If we consider the occurrence of the Neolithic revolution resulting from climatic and natural changes we have to interpret the second revolution as urbanization that sprung from trade and relations between tribes as Neolithic villages gradually discovered the importance of trade and exchange of technologies and cultural information and improved their lives by expanding trade. Invention of seals in the late 5th millennium and early 4th millennium B.C. and the presence of non-native objects in the graves attest to that claim. Life improvement is visible on the potteries and architectural pieces of early 4th millennium B.C. in Sialk of Kashan, Nahavand's Gian Hill, Susa and Tal-e-Bakun of Fars. The quality of the potteries and the motifs depicted on them are almost all similar in these areas. The people of this village, whose lives had improved due to trading and exchange of technologies and science, expressed their feelings and emotions by the images on potteries. The motifs as reflections of their living environment are full of motion, life and vitality. Some of these villages had better conditions because of being situated in better natural surroundings and having connecting routes and more neighbors. They took the most advantage of the situation and gradually, left behind rural life and by concentration on wealth and increased population and running economic affairs and attracting the surrounding villages reached the stage of urbanization. The village however, that lacked these conditions remained the same and under the control of the cities. The cemetery discovered in Susa can presumably belong to that phase of mankind’s social life in the late 5th millennium and early 4th millennium B.C. These people portrayed their feelings with regards to the blessings resulting from local and broader regional trade, on the images and motifs, quality and diversity of the potteries. And it were the same people who between 3500-3000 B.C founded the first urban and governmental civilization in the plain of Khuzestan and shaped the structure of the magnificent Ilamite civilization whose technical, cultural, artistic, scientific and religious accomplishments continue to flow in our lives today. The most recognized artifacts of Susa inhabitants are known in the world as Susa potteries that were obtained from the lowest layer of Susa in the years 1906-1907 and until 1911 a number of them were exhibited in the Louvre museum. The world became familiar and admired the Susa art of pottery by Poutier’s 1908 introduction of the images and motifs on these potteries. Herbert Reed has mentioned that pottery is linked to the general change in art. He states: “Pottery is simultaneously one of the easiest and hardest of all arts.” It is most simple because it is most primitive but the hardest because it is the most abstract art. He says: to judge a country’s art the potteries have to be judged because they reveal the people's delicate feelings. Pottery is a sure touchstone and it is a pure and free art apart from imitative objectives. Sculpture which is the closest keen to pottery has inherently had an imitative purpose to begin with and for expressing the mind in figure forms it gives less liberty to the sculptor. The most attractive piece of ceramic discovered in Susa is a large chalice with three frames. The main motif in all of them is an ibex. The body of the animal is formed of two interconnected triangles with curved sides. The curve of the back of the animal is a beautiful extension of the curved horns holding an unidentified object in between. This object suggests branches of a plant in the center and intersecting hachure on the margins. This motif may be a filling image for an empty space and at the same time may be a brief image of plants and meadows. The frame encompassing the ibex narrows down towards the bottom of the

vessel emphasizing the shape of the object. A row of running dogs similar to greyhounds circle around the chalice contained between two dark stripes. The upper part of the chalice is decorated by birds with long narrow necks unlike the bottom of the chalice where a thick dark stripe suggests sturdiness. These birds create extremely abstract images. Vandenberg, the renowned archeologist writes on Susa potteries: “These earthenware are very delicate and made with very soft clay. Their colors are very light, a yellowish or greenish white. The images are black, brown or dark purple drawn directly on the body of the vessel. The vessels are well baked in the kiln and made with a hand wheel. Their bodies are very thin and the shapes usually include chalices (large glasses) with painted exteriors, variety of bowls some legged some not with painted interiors and some wide bottomed pots. The motifs on potteries of the first floor or Susa one are arranged more like isolated assemblies from one another. The subjects of geometric images include slanted lines, triangles, broken cross and vertical lines reaching the eyebrows and spears set on columns. Also, tree branches, pentapetalous flowers, insects, turtle, fish, snake, lizard, marine ducks with long neck and legs, ibex, goat, leopard, hyena, dog and human images have been carefully painted on these potteries. If we compare the style of Susa potteries with that of Tal-e-Bakun (refer to previous Neshan issue) we will notice that the Tal-e-Bakun painter was more interested on angled and pointed lines while in Susa drawings a certain simplicity and brightness is dominant and in image compositions the proportions have been observed and every imaging element has maintained its real value in the general composition. But this principle has not been observed in Tal-e-Bakun potteries because the image is completely faded in the composition. In Tal-e-Bakun the painted subjects have in great numbers been limited to one area but in Susa one potteries the painter worked in an orderly fashion and the simplicity of the images has been observed. The painter has also allowed empty spaces between images. Nowhere in Iran has such skillful drawings of animal and human been cited. The potters of Susa perfected the art of pottery imaging that not only in Iran but they are unique in the whole world. About 3500 B.C. the inhabitant of this part of earth entered the period of urbanization and because of brass, a newly emerged phenomenon the importance of ceramics is gradually diminished and brass vessels and objects replace well-crafted potteries. With the beginning of the second floor of Susa which coincides with the formation of government, the potteries made lack the quality, looks and shapes of those of the first floor and they should be placed among the clay plates of early Ilamite civilization. Production of this kind of potteries continued for 700 years. The potteries of this period in terms of form and patterns are different from those of the first floor. Some are solid colored and others multi colored. The images on these potteries are in red, purple, orange and black colors and most are shaped wide bottomed with round bodies, short necks and wide mouths. The drawings often are displayed on the shoulders and in some on the whole body. They include slanted lines, triangle, rhombus and checkered shapes separated by horizontal and vertical divisions. Besides geometric patterns on some vessels there are also images of fish, horned animals, eagle, human, natural landscapes, architectural structures, flying birds, carts, snake, scorpion, etc. The style of colored images continued until the late second millennium but it never reached the charm of the Susa potteries because the supporters of vessels from Susa’s first floor gradually and concurrently with the beginning of the brass era, improvement of social life, the appearance of well to do class as result of trading and power sharing, changed their taste and instead of earthenware used brass, gold and silver vessels. Consequently, the potters lost their consumers and the art of pottery lost its past status. The lower classes of society however, were always the consumers of plain potteries and potters too supplied their demands. The Susa potters proved their capabilities in later periods and by design and make of glazed bricks of the Achaemenid Empire in Apadana Palace demonstrated their artistic ability and even in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.H. they left behind unparalleled collection of glazed potteries.

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