Ancient Pottery Item Reminder of Unity against COVID-19 Pandemic

An archaeologist has compared to coronavirus the images on a 7-thousand-year-old earthenware item which depicts farmers in the south or north of Iran dancing and jumping for joy around their harvest. Narges Mombeini has likened those designs to a sign of unity among people to overcome COVID-19.

“Since around 10 years ago, I have focused on re-creating ancient designs and images,” said Mombini, who holds a master’s degree in archeology as well as a university lecturer.

I went to a page that showed an example of clay with designs similar to the graphic image of Coronavirus,” she told ISNA. “This motivated me to study the exact meaning of the image on that piece of pottery,” she added.

She said: “The main image on the clay item shows the dance and joy of the people after harvesting their product.” “Local harvesting ceremonies are usually held in the north and south of Iran after harvest,” she said. The archaeologist added the design brings to mind an image where the virus is in the middle and people are uniting to break it.

“The images of the reaped harvest revived the image of coronavirus in my mind. So, I decided to compare the image on the pottery item to the image of COVID-19 and draw the unity of the people to overcome the virus as a poster with a cultural theme,” she said. She says the earthenware item being kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris, was originally excavated at a historical site 150 kilometers from the ancient city of Susa.

She aims to incorporate the philosophy behind those rituals into the campaign against the spread of the virus. According to Mombini, if people are united today as they used to be, they can definitely overcome the virus.