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Ritual scenes
Even a ritual scene can be quite naturalistic. In A15.270 the headless slaughtered bull is hanging upside down while the head is placed at the base of a column holding a large necked jar. See film of a bull slaughter. The stark realism of the butchering scene is brought out by three videos we did of a modern day butchering (
1. animal being hung after butchering, cutting head off,
2. cutting off legs,
3. skinning and removing interior parts
), which shows unexpected similarities with that represented on our seal. Here, the priests have just completed this part of the ritual as one holds the legs of the headless bull so it will have this reversed position and the other priest holds the knife and the tail about to continue butchering the bull. The seated woman is stirring something in a deep pot.
[OK this paragraph here?] A variation of the worship theme is found in A1.241 = AKc102 not a worship scene which is carved in this style; here too the most important gestures are emphasized by being elongated. Therefore the arm of the deity is extended out and up holding the cup. The arm of the figure on the other side of the altar is extended so that the hand touches the altar; this last gesture is emphasized by the fact that above this arm is a crescent with a dot inside.
Back to top: Ritual scenes