Anatolia, Greece Pottery Hacilar Region. Globular vase. Unique. Middle Chalcolithic, c. 5.000 BC. With TL test. 18,6 cm H

VERY IMPORTANT PIECE - Vase from the Hacilair Region - MUSEUM QUALITY CULTURE: Hacilar Region, Anatolia, Greece PERIOD: Middle Chalcolithic, c. 5. 000 BC MATERIAL: Pottery DIMENSIONS: Height 18,6 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, London, established between 1960 and 1980. Previously in the private collection of Elsa Bloch-Diener, Bern, Switzerland, acquired in the 1970s. PUBLICATIONS: - Aisthetike. J. Bagot Arqueología. Barcelona. 2018. Fig 13. CONDITION: In a good state of preservation, without restoration. Part of the engobe slip has been lost. DOCUMENTS: - With thermoluminescence test. - Spanish export license. DESCRIPTION: A biconic vase with a flat circular base converging into the body with a gently angled profile. The straight neck seems to end in a slightly inverted lip and is decorated with two continuous lines of zigzag framed by two bands of red triangular forms. The body shows an innovation: the lines are ochre, the colour of the pottery, so the artist has inverted the method of painting. Four red triangular bands make up the zigzag decoration. A similar piece of pottery was sold at Christie’s in 2003, in New York. Around the year 7040 BC, in what is present-day Hacilar Höyük (in Turkey in the region of Anatolia) , a pre-historic herding-agricultural culture developed and existed over almost 2000 years. Archaeologists have named this the “Hacilar Culture”. This site, totally excavated by English specialists, can be found in the orbit called the Fertile Crescent, where the Eastern Neolithic revolution had its origin. The importance of this geographic zone, which takes in the Levant, southern Anatolia and Mesopotamia, lies in the fact that it was where a fundamental change took place in human societies: they passed from a nomad existence to a sedentary, more organized form in which farming and animal husbandry were fostered to the detriment of hunting, fishing, and principally, gathering activities. The constructions found in Hacilar were made of adobe, sun-dried brick, just like those in the other Anatolian cultures of this epoch, especially those in the nearby Çatal Höyuk. However, at the former site a certain architectural symmetry and spatial planning can be appreciated such as streets, places and bordered areas, among which temples and fortifications stand out. Although unpainted pottery dating from the beginning of the 6th millennium is conserved, from 5300 BC on, decorated vases with geometric designs begin the appear, as do statuettes of animals and solid figures, possibly representing divinities related to fertility (Museum of Archaeology, Ankara n. 522) . The pottery is of great quality, moulded by hand, fired in open ovens, and decorated with red paint over a buff-coloured base with geometric motifs or stylized figures. There is a great variety of morphology (ovoid, cylindrical, hyperboloid forms) and small tubular handles placed vertically near the carinated profile. Given the formal characteristics and the decoration, the vases mentioned here come from Levels II A and B, and correspond to the chronology between the years 5400 – 5250 BC. According to some anthropologists, the zigzag lines may refer to rivers and streams, while others says that they refer to the routes marked by cattle while they graze. In any case, the inclusion of animals and feminine figures in the Neolithic aesthetic would be associated with the transformation of human activity, leading to the representation of steatopygian goddesses (those with wide buttocks) . BIBLIOGRAPHY: -\t. MELLART, J. Excavations at Hacilar. Vol. 1 y 2. Edinburgh. 1970. -\t. MELLART, J. “Excavations at Hacilar, 4th Preliminary Report”, Anatolian Studies, 11. 1961. p. 39-75. -\t. RICE, P. M. Pottery Analysis: a Sourcebook. University Chicago Press. 1987. p. 10-12. -\t. VANDEPUT, L. “The British Institute at Ankara: 60 years young”, Anatolian Studies, 58. 2008. p. 1-14. -\t. YAKAR, J. “The Language of Symbols in Prehistoric Anatolia”, Documenta Praehistorica, December. 2005. p. 111- 121. Notes: The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki. The seller will take care that any necessary permits, like an export license will be arranged, he will inform the buyer about the status of it if this takes more than a few days. The piece includes authenticity certificate. The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) - If the piece is destined outside the European Union a substitution of the export permit should be requested. This process could take between 1 and 2 months.