Image Details

Louvre/RMN—Chuzeville

This Late Bronze Age necklace, now in the Louvre, is from ancient Mari, in modern Syria. Similar necklaces have been found in Cyprus, Crete and Egypt. The necklace’s polished carnelian pendants may be stylized representations of the poppy head—turned upside-down, much like the Cypriot Base-ring juglets. However, it is possible that the pendants represent lotus blossoms or some other plant. Or, as author Robert Merrillees has playfully suggested, they may represent the Base-ring juglet itself.