In the last day of the 2013 field season at Tsaghkahovit, trench supervisor Cynthia Gosselin recovered a remarkable artifact from Room S of the Iron 3 town. The object is a ceramic spout rendered in the form of what appears to be a bull. The execution of the nostrils combined with the incised arcs above the eyes are reminiscent of bull iconography in the art of the Achaemenid Empire, while the black burnished surface treatment of the vessel invokes the silver zoomorphic amphorae of the empire. The bull spout from Room S belongs to a wider corpus of animal handled vessels discovered at Tsaghkahovit (see 2010 field season).
Black-burnished ceramic bull spout from Tsaghkahovit
bull spout in profile
The artifact was found in a room with several internal features never before encountered at Iron 3 Tsaghkahovit, including stone lined cooking installations and various circular and rectilinear enclosures, perhaps for storage.
Southwest view onto Room S
Stone-lined hearth in the east corner