Early Islamic Torpedo Jars from Siraf: Scientific Analyses of the Clay Fabric and Source of Indian Ocean Transport Containers

From ‘ovoid jars’ to ‘torpedo jars’: Investigations into bitumen‐lined transport containers in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean in antiquity (second century BCE–third century CE)

“…Therefore, southern Mesopotamia and/or the Gulf region have often been proposed as potential places of manufacture for these jars. Nevertheless, several bitumen analysis programmes on Sasanian and early Islamic torpedo jars have led to similar conclusions, pointing to the region of Susa and Dehluran, in the north-east Khuzestan region of Iran, as the main source, at least for the TORP-S group (Stern et al, 2007;Connan et al, 2020;Tomber et al, 2020). These recent results suggest that south-western Iran could have been one of the main production places for TORP-S jars.…”

“…Transport containers lined with bitumen, of varying capacities, are common in the archaeological sites of the Mesopotamian region and in the Arab-Persian Gulf. Among these vessels, the late Antique/early Islamic productions known as 'torpedo jars', first identified in the Indian subcontinent by Roberta Tomber (Tomber, 2007(Tomber, , 2008, have been the subject of a significant number of publications over the last 12 years (mainly Priestman, 2013: 91-92;Connan et al, 2020;Tomber et al, 2020). These are handle-less, hole-mouth jars, with an elongated 'torpedolike' body and a pointed/spike base (Tomber et al, 2020: fig.…”

“…8/a-c;Khor Rori: Pavan, 2017: 208-211; Al Hamr al-Sharqiya 1: Lischi et al, 2020), in Yemen (Qani: Sedov, 2010: 246-247, fig. 104/1015 106/1040-1043), in Sri Lanka and India (Tomber, 2007(Tomber, , 2008Alagankulam: Lischi et al, 2020), and as far as South Asia (Thailand: Connan et al, 2020) and East Africa (Kenya: Chittick, 1984;Somalia: Smith & Wright, 1988: fig. 9/a-h).…”

A consideration on the interest of a pottery typology adapted to the late Sasanian and early Islamic monastery at al‐Qusur (Kuwait)

“…Torpedo jars are particularly abundant at the site. This type of amphora is frequently related to wine transportation (Carter et al, 2011;Connan et al, 2020;Tomber, Spataro, & Priestman, 2020; in this issue: Durand, 2021), even if this function still needs to be demonstrated. At al-Qusur, they raise the issue of wine consumption in a monastery.…”

Geochemical Analysis of Two Samples of Bitumen from Jars Discovered on Muhut and Masirah Islands (Oman)

“…There is a growing body of recently published research related to torpedo jars and the full details regarding their function, dating, provenance, and archaeological associations will be only briefly summarised here ( [1,[13][14][15]). The archaeological distribution of torpedo jar finds throughout the western Indian Ocean reinforces their evident association with maritime exchange activity.…”