The plaster cross measures about a foot long and seven inches wide and is molded on a stucco plaque. The plaque is intricately designed, cracked but complete, and presents an eight-point cross with four small eight-point crosses inside circles embedded into the four Vs of the ends and in the center where the arms intersect. The cross stands on a stepped base representing the hill of Calvary, with leaves sprouting from the base and dotted, pointed arm ends. Every element incorporates regional Gulf and Mesopotamian motifs. Archaeologists found the plaque face down in a courtyard house on Sir Bani Yas Island; a fingerprint on the back led to its identification and confirmed links between nearby courtyard houses and a 7th–8th century church and monastery.
The cross plaque is intricately designed and in excellent condition, cracked but complete. It is an eight-point cross with four small eight-point crosses inside circles embedded into the four Vs of the ends and in the center where the arms intersect. It stands on a stepped base that represents the hill of Calvary These iconographic elements the stepped base, the leaves, the pointed ends, the complexity of the abstract tableau are characteristic of Christian crosses in the Middle and Near East.
Visually, every element of the plaster cross incorporates regional motifs, Maria Gajewska, an archaeologist who leads the team on the island, told The National. The stepped pyramid at the bottom, representing the Golgotha; the leaves sprouting from the base; the shape of the cross arms; the dots at the ends and the setting within a niche all find regional parallels in the Gulf and Mesopotamia.
Collection
[
|
...
]