PRIFYSGOL ABERTAWE,
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY.
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Pottery On Display In The Egypt Centre
A potter is under (i.e. carries) clay. His lifetime is like that of an animal. Dirt besmears him more than a pig....His clothes are stiff from dry clay, his lain-cloth is like a rag.
Papyrus Sallier II quoted in Bourriau, 1981We do not know if men or women made these pots. Certainly some tomb paintings show men making pottery but whether women also did or not is uncertain. Tomb paintings such as those at Beni Hasan show mass production of pottery but whether this was just for royal or temple sites we do not know. Domestic production may also have been carried out.
The earliest pots were made by hand. Wheel throwing was used from about 2400 BC). You will see that many have round bases. Flat bases are only needed to put items on flat surfaces such as tables. Pottery could stand up quite well in the earth if it had a round base. Alternatively, stands were used, such as the one on display here.
Most of the pots were found in graves. We are not sure what they held. They could have been used as storage jars for honey, wine or other foodstuffs. Perhaps some contained aromatic fats or expensive perfumes. Others may have been used as table ware.
2. W739 Black topped vessel Naqada I-II (4000-3100 BC). Note the thin walls made without the use of a potter's wheel. ). The shiny effect is not a glaze but is caused by burnishing, that is, rubbing with a flat object such as a pebble, at the leather hard stage before firing. The black top could have been made in a number of ways. Perhaps the most likely way is by removing the pot from the fire and putting it upside down in a layer of chaff. The smoke most easily reaches the chaff covered parts and causes the black coloration. The red coloration is caused by the application of red ochre. Black topped vessels such as these were made from Nile silt.
3. W1045 Wavy handled jar from grave 42 Hierakonpolis Fort Cemetery. This grave consisted of a simple pit with an adult crouched inhumation into which a number of pots were placed. (Barbara Adams 1987). Petrie believed the Egyptian wavy handled types originally copied Palestinian types. This vessel is the first of a series of wavy handled jars which gradually changed over time.
4. W5303 Black topped red ware Naqada I-II (4000-3100 BC). See number 2.
5. W5300 Black topped red-ware. Naqada I-II (4000-3100 BC). Note the incised mark
on the pot, possibly the name of the potter. See number 2.
6. W5307 D-Ware. Naqada II (3500-3100 BC) with painted decoration. Note the lug handles. Perhaps these were used to tie on a cloth or leather lid. This type of pottery was made with desert or marl clay from Upper Egypt. It was during this the Naqada II phase that marl or desert clay was first used. Pots made from this clay require much more controlled firing conditions than vessels made from alluvial clays. The kiln must reach a higher temperature. Therefore the use of marl clays marks a major technological advance. Marl clays were used first in Upper Egypt, from where they were mined and from the Naqada III period (from c3200 BC) in Lower Egypt.
7. W833. Bowl from Gebelein. Naqada I (4000-3500 BC)
8. AX 121.8 Pottery vessel from a grave at Hierakonpolis Fort Cemetery. (Barbara Adams, 1987) Predynastic-Early Dynastic (4000-2686 BC). On loan from Swansea Museum.
9. AB 107. Cylindrical jar from Tarkhan. Predynastic (4000-3100BC). Gift from University of Wales Swansea. This is the last in the wavy lined pot series (see number 3 for the first in the series).
10. W1069 D-ware. Naqada II (3500-3100 BC). Painted decoration.
11. W1297. Predynastic-Early Dynastic cylinder jar with net decoration (4000-2686 BC). This shows the last in Petrie's wavy-handled jar sequence. (see W1045 for the first)
12. W5323 First Intermediate Period-Middle Kingdom (2181-1650 BC)
13. W1047 Dynasty I 3100-2890 BC). Dish with red burnishing from Hierakonpolis Fort Cemetery grave 60 (Barbara Adams, 1987). The shiny effect is not a glaze but is caused by burnishing, that is, rubbing with a flat object such as a pebble, at the leather hard stage before firing.
14. W5331. Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)
15. W199 From a tomb at Esna. 12th Dynasty (1985-1795 BC). John Garstang's excavations.
16. W1301 Stand for round based pots. Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)
17. W5333 Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC). Marl Clay. This is possibly a cosmetic jar made in imitation of alabaster and burnished.
18. W5336. Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)
19. W202 From a tomb at Esna
20. W5320 Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC)
21. W5356 Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC)
22. W5365. First Intermediate Period-Middle Kingdom (2181-1650 BC)
23. W196. From a 12th Dynasty (1985-1795 BC) tomb at Esna (tomb 80.)
24. W5372. Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC)
25. 681? From tomb 190 at Esna. This, like most of the burnished pots on display was made of Nile clay.
26. W5391 New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC). Black painted decoration.
27. W5360 Second Intermediate Period (1650-150 BC)
28. 731? From tomb 81 at Esna
29. W5359 Second Intermediate Period (16500-1550 BC) from a tomb at Esna
30. W5384 New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC). Red paint on marl clay.
31. W5367Second Intermediate period (1650-1550). Marl clay.
32. W1294Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC). Hyksos Jar decorated with faience beads.
33. W1289 Tell el-Yahudiya ware. Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC). This type type of juglet was named after a site in the eastern Delta which is also found in Cyprus, Palestine and Nubia. It is not known if it was made in Egypt or came in as a traded item. This type of vessel was decorated by pricking holes into the clay and filling them with white clay.
34. W1299 Painted New Kingdom bowl (1550-1069 BC)
35. W5393. New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC)
36. W1302b Coptic painted vase (AD 395- AD641)
37. W1300 Painted New Kingdom bowl. (1550-1069 BC)
38. W5385 New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC)
39. W2044C New Kingdom. (1550-1069 BC) Red lustrous ware 'spindle bottle'. The surface is vertically burnished. It is believed that this type of pottery was made in Cyprus or the Levant. It was probably used for importing scented gums and resins. A spindle bottle found in Syria at Ras Shama contained a resin and it seems probable that scented gums and resins which we know the Egyptians imported from Syria were the product. Resins were used in the manufacture of perfumes and aromatic oils. In tomb paintings of Dynasty XVIII processions of Syrian porters are shown bringing tribute to the king and among their offerings are vases of a similar type to this.
40. W1281. New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC)
41. W5384. New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC). Marl clay, red paint.
42. W1081. Lamp from Tell el Fara. The lamp would have been filled with animal or vegetable oil with a wick floating in it.
In the Egypt Centre you will see other items made of clay: offering trays, a stool, model boats, beads, coffin lids, moulds, etc. Clay is very useful to the archaeologist because it lasts for a long time and because it was cheap, it is found on many sites. Pottery of a known date can be used to date other items with which it is found, it can be used in the study of ancient technology and art. It can also provide evidence of ancient trade networks and other forms of communication between cultural groups. Once broken in ancient times pottery was often reused. It could be used for making small objects such as spindle whorls or could be used to write upon. Sherds of pottery with written texts are known as ostraca.
The Egypt Centre also has information on pottery from Amarna in its collection.
Further Reading
Adams, Barbara, 1987. The Fort Cemetery at Hierakonpolis (Excavated by John Garstang).
Arnold, Dorothea and Bourriau, 1193. An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Pottery.
Bourriau, J., 1981. Umm el-Ga'ab Pottery from the Nile Valley Before The Arab Conquest. Cambridge University Press.
Hope, Colin, 1987. Egyptian Pottery. Shire Publications
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