Do I know you? Points of Contact between Northern and Central/Southern Mesopotamian Ceramic Traditions in the 2nd millennium BC

During the 2nd millennium BC, the Central/Southern and Northern Mesopotamian areas could be identified as two vast, but very different, macro pottery regions. To the north, the ceramic tradition evidences the wide expansion of painted pottery, such as Khabur Ware, both in the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (LBA), and Nuzi Ware in the LBA. In contrast, along the Diyala River, one notes a ‘proper’ Babylonian ceramic tradition as outlined by Armstrong and Gasche in 2014; it is strongly characterized by the presence of plain pottery. The focus of this contribution is to highlight points of contact between the two areas through the analysis of common pottery types and by observing when vessels, which normally belong to foreign cultural traditions, appear in local contexts.