DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.50021#0111
X. Pottery.
93
baked to red in the hard
baked ware. The neck
has been smoothed by
passing the wet finger
around horizontally. The
base is invariably marked
by vertical scratches as if
it had been trimmed with
a blunt blade perhaps a
wooden blade. The same
phenomenon occurs in
a few examples of the
predynastic prototype of
type iv found at el-Ahai-
wah and is especially
169. Type V, I : 10.
common in the tall jars of the 18 th dynasty. See Petrie R. T. 7, Pl. 41,20,21,22,24,25,28.
The best examples (1, 2, 3) are, except for these scratches, very similar to type iv. The
poorer examples are distinctly different (cf. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). Both types occur in the same
grave. Even better and
poorer varieties of type v
occur in the same grave
(see 1614, 1615, idid, all on
Pl. 51; 1525, Pl. 54 j 1602,
Pl. 55; 1605, Pl. 55; sold,
Pl. 73; 3017, Pl. 74). As
a rule these jars were
170. Later forms of type V, I : IO.
found empty or filled with a mass of dirt indistinguishable from the debris of the tomb;
but nine examples, 1^02, 4,5, 1633, 1-4, and 3012,1,6, contained a sort of mud plug in the
bottom as if mud (for plastering the tomb?) had been brought and scooped out with the hand
leaving a remnant1 (cf. type vi). In any case, the jar is a cheap rough thing suitable only
for some temporary use2 as an offering-pot prescribed by tradition (cf. the use of the round
bellied pot of the 8 th—12th dynasties, as an offering-pot used once only). Possibly its use as a
mud carrier is only a secondary function, acquired after the loss of its traditional function.
In consideration of the existence of type iv, it seems to me that the prototype of this
jar is L 30—33a—e (L 33d seems to be type v itself).3 Type v occurs in every type of tomb
1 Dr. Borchardt found the 5 th dynasty successor of this jar used for lime-plaster at Abusir, see Re -Heiligtum, I, p. 62. It was
sometimes used for this purpose also at Gizeh. In the Cheops cemetery, magurs, a far more suitable pot, and baskets were used for trans-
porting lime-plaster.
2 In this connection, it may be recalled that most of these tombs were built at the time of burial, see p. 6 above and note I.
3 It may be said, in passing, that l 72, 74, 76, 78 (Nagada and Ballas, Pl. 41) form a group of characteristic 4t51—5 th dynasty pots
which, so far as is recorded in the published material, have never been found in a predynastic burial. So also l 33s (El-Amr ah and Abydos,
Pl. 13) is a characteristic 3rd dynasty pot.
93
baked to red in the hard
baked ware. The neck
has been smoothed by
passing the wet finger
around horizontally. The
base is invariably marked
by vertical scratches as if
it had been trimmed with
a blunt blade perhaps a
wooden blade. The same
phenomenon occurs in
a few examples of the
predynastic prototype of
type iv found at el-Ahai-
wah and is especially
169. Type V, I : 10.
common in the tall jars of the 18 th dynasty. See Petrie R. T. 7, Pl. 41,20,21,22,24,25,28.
The best examples (1, 2, 3) are, except for these scratches, very similar to type iv. The
poorer examples are distinctly different (cf. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10). Both types occur in the same
grave. Even better and
poorer varieties of type v
occur in the same grave
(see 1614, 1615, idid, all on
Pl. 51; 1525, Pl. 54 j 1602,
Pl. 55; 1605, Pl. 55; sold,
Pl. 73; 3017, Pl. 74). As
a rule these jars were
170. Later forms of type V, I : IO.
found empty or filled with a mass of dirt indistinguishable from the debris of the tomb;
but nine examples, 1^02, 4,5, 1633, 1-4, and 3012,1,6, contained a sort of mud plug in the
bottom as if mud (for plastering the tomb?) had been brought and scooped out with the hand
leaving a remnant1 (cf. type vi). In any case, the jar is a cheap rough thing suitable only
for some temporary use2 as an offering-pot prescribed by tradition (cf. the use of the round
bellied pot of the 8 th—12th dynasties, as an offering-pot used once only). Possibly its use as a
mud carrier is only a secondary function, acquired after the loss of its traditional function.
In consideration of the existence of type iv, it seems to me that the prototype of this
jar is L 30—33a—e (L 33d seems to be type v itself).3 Type v occurs in every type of tomb
1 Dr. Borchardt found the 5 th dynasty successor of this jar used for lime-plaster at Abusir, see Re -Heiligtum, I, p. 62. It was
sometimes used for this purpose also at Gizeh. In the Cheops cemetery, magurs, a far more suitable pot, and baskets were used for trans-
porting lime-plaster.
2 In this connection, it may be recalled that most of these tombs were built at the time of burial, see p. 6 above and note I.
3 It may be said, in passing, that l 72, 74, 76, 78 (Nagada and Ballas, Pl. 41) form a group of characteristic 4t51—5 th dynasty pots
which, so far as is recorded in the published material, have never been found in a predynastic burial. So also l 33s (El-Amr ah and Abydos,
Pl. 13) is a characteristic 3rd dynasty pot.