In 2002 excavators at Tell Qarqur in northwestern Syria came across some sherds that fit together as an incense burner, but several pieces were still missing. In subsequent years, digggers continued the search in the hope of finding more pieces. By 2005 they had enough of them to make a nearly complete incense burner, and they proceeded to reconstruct it. The result was the pictured vessel for that mysterious aromatic used in religious rituals for at least 6,000 years, up to our own day. This incense burner dates to about 2000 B.C.

Rudolph Dornemann, former executive director of the American Schools of Oriental Research, who heads the dig, hopes to find the few remaining pieces of the incense burner in future seasons.