C-Ware – shallow bowl C-0178

The flat of the rim is mostly decorated with groups of three to four short, parallel straight strokes.

Most of the decoration consists of a hunting scene. Three large animals follow one another, facing to the left. They each have a long neck with both frontal and neck manes, and a short tail. Their bodies are decorated with triangles filled with chevrons: a large, downturned one hanging from the line of the back, a smaller upturned one on the line of the belly. Two of these animals are associated with smaller ones, which are likely hunting dogs atticking them. One faced by a single dog standing behind it, its head almost connected to its back leg as if biting it. The second one is also followed by a dog in a nearly identical position, while another dog attacks it from the front, almost touching its throat. The tree dogs have short ears pointing backward and short tail, as well as downturned chevrons decorating their belly.

The identification of the larger animals is not easy. They have frontward pointing horns that curve backwards and continue on the flat of the rim, their extremity taking the place of the straight strokes otherwise painted on the rim. These are similar to ibexes horns, but such an identification is most unlikely because of the length of the necks as well as the presence of frontal and neck manes. At first sight, they rather resemble giraffes, but long, backward curving horns seem to preclude this identification. It is possible that these creatures are composite animals, combining different caracteristics from several species, but this interpretation may not be correct either.

The row of animals is interrupted by a vertical plant motif that consists of a single, long stem with short leaves on either side. At the bottom of the vessel is a concentric zigzag design consisting of five parallel lines; the plant rises from the outermost of these zigzags.