The « offering stands » of the middle-third of IIIrd millenium BC Mesopotamia are a hallmark of Early Dynastic to Akkadian Periods. These ceramic shapes are amongst the most sophisticated pottery types for these periods, and as such are often at the center of chronology discussions. I first show how some statistical analyses of contexts help to refine previously proposed functional interpretations for this mysterious class of objects. The presentation then compares typology and techniques of production of pottery stemmed dishes and offering stands from Mari, the Diyala (Khafaja, Tell Agrab, Asmar), Kish, Nippur and Ur. The existence of regional repartitions and specificities is extrapolated from comparisons with other sites, and from sherds coming from survey data. A chronological synthesis is proposed. This presentation also explores the interpretation of techniques evolution in relation with other studies.