Vessel in the shape of a bull

Like the other objects nearby, this vessel probably held a liquid used for some ceremony rather than for everyday use. The animals themselves may have had ritual or religious significance. Because so many similar examples come from graves, researchers think that they may have been produced for funerary rites or strictly for burials.

Here the head and mouth of a bull act as the spout. The bull’s hump is shaped into a wide-mouthed vessel with two rams’ head “handles,” into which the liquid would have been poured. Note the straight horns of the bull and the curling horns of the rams.