limestone rough hoe-blades (easily mistaken for palaeolithic
implements; they are, however, much flatter); polished serpentine or
jasper celts; lentoid (lentil-shaped), amygdaloid (almond-shaped),
and discoid beads of cornelian, crystal, obsidian, &c., unpolished;
nails of translucent quartz and obsidian (obviously imitations of
metal types); hard grey pottery sickles, pottery cones of various
sizes, and pottery objects like gigantic nails bent up at the ends;
pottery painted with designs in black, usually geometrical (see
illustration XIV, Fig. 1), but sometimes showing plant-forms or even
animals. This ware is often very fine, so much so as to look as if
wheelmade. The shapes are chiefly bowls (often closely resembling
early Egyptian stone bowl types), pots with suspension-handles or
lugs, and spouted 'kettles'. All these objects are at Shahrein and
el-'Obeid found lying on the desert surface at the distance of 50 or
100 yards from the tell; they are supposed to have been washed out of
the lower strata of the latter by rains. Objects of this kind should
be recorded from any site, and the neighbourhood of a desert tell
should always be searched for them.


[ILLUSTRATION XIV MESOPOTAMIAN POTTERY, SEALS, ETC].

[ILLUSTRATION XV: CUNEIFORM AND OTHER SCRIPTS].


II. EARLY BRONZE (Copper) AGE: First Sumerian (pre-Sargonic) Period;
c. 3500-3000 B.C. Earliest Sumerian civilization.

Typical sites. Older strata at Telloh (LAGASH); Fara (SHURUPPAK);
Tell 'Obeid (ancient name as yet unknown); Shahrein (ERIDU).