Image Details

Diagnostic sherds. These broken pieces of pottery are all from vessels characteristic of the Early Bronze period (c. 2500 B.C.) They include a rim, top right; a small handle near the top, left; and the large base in the center of the photo. From each of these “telltale” sherds, a trained archaeologist can determine most characteristics of the whole vessel to which the sherd once belonged—such as shape, size and purpose.