The Ashmolean

Iraq: Navel of the World

Country Life [3]

Date palms are cultivated in orchards throughout southern Iraq. For several thousand years the trees have yielded syrup and fruit as well as light building materials. They also provide essential shelter for animals and domesticated plants against the blazing heat of the summer sun. This pottery fragment shows a date palm in fruit with a deer sheltering below.
[1953.1332]

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