In States of Clay, we are applying a highly innovative methodology, synthesised through a GIS-related database and interpretive Network Analysis, which maximises the combined potential of a range of scientific approaches to CBOs. We are studying a total of 6500 CBOs housed principally in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin and in other museum collections in Germany, Iraq, Holland and the UK. Our methods comprise: (1) recording of CBO attributes, including archaeological context, seal impression iconography, fingerprints, textual content, and evidence for function; (2) application of high-resolution imaging to CBOs for reconstruction of details such as fingerprints (indicators of age and sex) and fragmentary seal impressions; (3) a range of archaeometric analyses of CBO clays, including portable x-ray fluorescence and destructive analyses of tiny clay fragments from selected CBOs, plus microscopic analysis of micro-fauna and microflora within the clays to build up a reference library of clays city by city, region by region; (4) use of Network Analysis through a GIS-database to generate and interpret divergent and shifting patterns of usage of CBOs in spatial and chronological patterns across the study sites and regions, addressing the societal issues articulated in the preceding paragraph. Finally, the project’s results and interpretations will be publicly shared both as Open Access research resources, and as an online exhibition hosted by the German Digital Library.
