Amlash jar; Iran, II-I millennium B.C.

Amlash jug; Iran, II-I millennium BC.
Ceramic.
Measurements: 11 x 17 x 8 cm.
Jug made of ceramic with a burnished and blackened surface. It presents a globular body, a handle on the back and a prominent beak that evokes the shape of a bird This type of pottery is known for its distinctive shape and its origin in the Amlash region of northern Iran.
The Amlash culture is a heterogeneous assemblage of materials and historical periods from the Guilan and western Mazandaran regions of northern Iran. It mainly alludes to a geographical region from which certain archaeological objects of specific typologies originate.
The name comes from the nearby Alborz valleys, where various archaeological artifacts were discovered during excavations. These materials cover a broad chronological framework extending from the end of the second millennium BC to the Parthian-Sassanid period, although most of the objects are dated between the 9th and 8th centuries BC. Dating and interpretation of the known pieces, which include bronze weapons, zoomorphic figurines, human figurines in terracotta and bronze, animal-shaped ceramic vessels and burnished ceramic vessels in black, gray or orange tones, are hampered by the paucity of precise archaeological contexts.