Envelope
Category
Archaeological material
Date
Unknown
Materials
Copper, Cornelian, Obsidian, Paper, Shell
Collection
Greenway, Devon
NT 122598
Summary
Envelope containing 14 smaller envelopes with beads made from shell, copper, cornelian, and fragments of obsidian. Stuart Blaylock 2008: Unmarked envelope Larger-size envelope containing finds in coin envelopes. Fourteen brown coin envelopes, all but one marked. Seem to be a combination of survey and excavated finds. [photos 1342–70, see detailed listing below] /01 ‘Beads G.23/DB’: c.14 faience beads and 5 faience ring fragments. [not photographed] /02 ‘G.25’: five shells, Melanopsis sp. (?Melanopsis praemorsa?, a freshwater species native to the area). [not photographed] /03 ‘G.25’: shells, c.29; Melanopsis sp. (as no. 02, above, again probably mostly Melanopsis praemorsa[?], although one is the ribbed shell of ?Melanopsis mesopotamica [?]). [not photographed] /04 ‘G.25’: three further shells, Melanopsis sp. (as no. 2, above). [not photographed] /05 ‘G.114: Beads & copper ring frags ?earring. PM Hamo F... [illegible: a record of finder/workman’s name?]’: includes two carnelian beads, one tiny stamp seal with cross-hatched incised decoration, and multiple Cu alloy fragments. Photographed as a record of character, no more. [photos 1342–43] /06 ‘G.120, Silver wire, Beads’: Five tiny frit beads (dark blue-grey); one tiny white faience bead; one larger faience melon bead; two loops of [supposedly] silver wire; and one ring cut down from the whorl of a cone shell, i.e. a shell bead. [photos 1344–45] /07 ‘G.151 Beads’: Two carnelian biconical beads; two other carnelian beads; one rock crystal bead; three tiny frit beads; two metallic ?lead? or ?silver sticks; four metallic ?lead? or ?silver loops. [photos 1346–47] /08 ‘G.154 Beads, 2 frags shell’: two carnelian biconical beads; one carnelian cylindrical bead; two cone-shell rings/beads. [photos 1348–49] /09 ‘Bead, G.155’: Simply fragments of Cu alloy corrosion product: no actual object. [not photographed] /10 ‘Beads, G.144’: Empty envelope. Nos 1–10 are all Chagar Bazar graves and are listed in Mallowan 1936, 54–59 and idem 1937, 118–26, but apparently only the published objects are listed (e.g. there is no mention of shells s.n. G.25). In one case, G.154, the published catalogue does list ‘carnelian and shell beads’ (ibid., 122) without a publication reference, so these may be the items listed here under no. 08, above. /11 ‘WE/TOP, obsidian’: A beautiful transparent black fragment. [photo 1350–51] /12 ‘Stamp seal fragment, W Gate Ziggurat C–1.50m’: half a stamp seal, broken at perforation. [photo 1352–53] /13 ‘BIR ZARAF’: fragments of three beads: one carnelian disc with bevelled edge; one carnelian rhomboid form, pierced longitudinally; one sub-rectangular, pink ?agate? [photos 1354–55] /14 [unlabelled envelope]: containing three obsidian blades; four spheroid faience beads; one glass bracelet fragment (medieval). Most of the other material in this envelope seems to be from Brak or Chagar Bazar, but equally this could be a little survey collection. [photos 1356–57] Addendum to 122598: x3 loose objects in the large envelope that could have come from one of the empty envelopes (see nos 9, 10 above): one charcoal fragment; one Cu alloy fragment; one fragment of an agate ribbed spacer bead.