The archaeological site of Choga Mami was chosen for excavation in part due to its location in Iraq, along an area which would have ostensibly seen heavy foot traffic during the time, in which it would have been considered part of the Mesopotamian region. During the excavation the team of archaeologists found mud brick rooms all similar in size and thoughtfully aligned, pottery, tools, and many small clay figures. David Oates also found a jar containing the fragmented remains of what is presumably an infant burial, which led them to believe that this location would have been the site of a small town. Architecture Excavations at Choga Mami have revealed many levels of occupation on the tell, dating from the start of the 6th millennium B.C. A mud-brick tower guarded the entrance to the settlement. There is no clear evidence that it formed part of a town wall, and encouraged by a part of an ascending ramp found beside it, archaeologists identify the structure as a watch tower. Built out of locally sourced mud brick, the settlement had Samarran-style, rectangular shaped homes. The homes found at Choga Mami were built directly on top of, or occasionally within, the walls of earlier levels. The majority of houses "contained either two or three rows of small rooms," on either side of a central hall, referred to as a tripartite plan. This plan is common throughout Mesopotamia in both public and domestic architecture. Many of the houses found at Choga Mami were strengthened by external buttresses, corresponding with "the corners and junctions of walls." The largest house found by excavators measured 10 x 7 meters and contained twelve rooms in three rows. Despite being rendered obsolete by architectural innovations later in the period, these buttresses are found at all levels of occupation, resulting in purely decorative use of the buttress by the end of the Samarran period. Ceramics/Pottery The surviving pieces of pottery found at Choga Mami were regularly constructed with the same materials and the same overall look as those of the wider Samarran Culture. Many remaining examples display an extensive use of animal imagery, a defining characteristic of the period. Among the clay artifacts that have been excavated at Choga Mami, both painted and unpainted pots, clay beads, and small figurines have been recovered. While standing male and female Terracotta figurines are the most common, other figurines largely resemble the figures