A remarkable jar with architectural decoration: an Almohad precedent?
Résumé
This short paper aims to introduce a very special jar found during the recent excavations in the fortified site of Albalat (first half of the 12th c.). Although its fabric does not distinguish it from other large containers already known in this place, evidence of its content (drying vegetable oil –perhaps linseed oil–) brings us some important information about its last use, different from the use of other analysed jars that would have contained red wine or vinegar. But its more singular feature is a complex plastic decoration, including an imposing frieze of rough horseshoe arches. According to its early chronology it can be considered a primitive precursor of the complex Almohad jars.