Jar (Daba)

This leather jar, with a gypsum lined rim and a body made of a triple layer of rawhide, was used to store date syrup (dibs tamer). It has a large wooden stopper with a knob, roughly carved from a single piece of wood. The jar was waterproofed with several layers of natural resin varnish. Painted on rather sloppily, the varnish is not original to the object as it appears to have been applied after the jar was attacked by insects and rodents.

Date syrup was an important resource and a by-product of storing large quantities of fresh dates. It was drained off from large piles of sacks of dates in an installation known as a madbasa, and then sold separately. Dibs was used to sweeten various foods, including rice dishes.