Shaping vessels like animals. An analysis of 2nd millennium BCE zoomorphic vessels from Anatolia and the southern Caucasus

Making vessels in the shape of animals is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Prehistory and is common to practically all ancient cultures. The purpose and function of these objects, inevitably, may be diverse, and their interpretation must be strictly connected to the archaeological context of discovery and the evaluation of the kind of society that produced them. This paper examines a small group of zoomorphic vessels, those that characterized the territories of the Anatolian plateau and the Southern Caucasus during the 2nd millennium BCE. The roles played by these objects in the two areas seem to have been different, but some aspects seem to be shared. Furthermore, the production of animal-shaped vessels also characterises the Old Hittite period and subsequent phases, demonstrating the continuity of production of this kind of object. They are also a rare and fortunate case as they have left traces in written sources, so careful examination of an object may lead to its identification. Zoomorphic vessels are therefore a useful tool for investigating aspects relating to areas that are distant from each other but that must have shared some cultural elements.