Bowl

This bowl is made from soapstone, a soft stone which is easy to carve. It is modestly [JB1.1]decorated with a series of horizontal, incised lines. Two holes are visible near the bowl’s rim indicating the vessel may have been intended to be suspended. In addition, repair holes are visible, possibly due to a breakage when new suspension holes were created.
This object was found in a collective grave at Al Ghafat in central Qatar containing three individuals: a man, a woman and a child. These individuals were lying on a gypsum plaster floor with funeral offerings to accompany them on their journey into the afterlife.
With no known source in Qatar, soapstone was likely imported from Iran, Oman or the mountains west of the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting Qatar’s interconnection with surrounding regions.