DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Rzeuska, Teodozja I.: The pottery, 2002
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41370#0150
WEST SAQQARA
EGYPT
The ceramic assemblage from chapel 13
is not as straightforward apparently. Red
slipped beer-jars are present, so it is likely
that the two structures, 13 and 14,
functioned contemporaneously for some
time. However, to judge by its irregular
plan, chapel 13 was later than 14, cut in
the rock already when chapel 14 was
functioning.n) The number of shafts inside
chapel 13 (eight in total) suggests long
usage, a deduction confirmed by the
ceramic assemblage, which includes,
beside the same kind of pottery as in
chapel 14, also later pieces that do not
appear there. Two other types of beer-jars
are just as frequent as the red slipped
variety. One is a spindle-shaped jar with
gently rounded shoulders narrowing
toward the rim; these pots were made of
Nile silt C and their characteristic feature
is a white-washed external surface. Jars of
this type have already been found in the
Saqqara West necropolis — in the funerary
enclosure of Pehi, dated to the late Sixth
Dynasty.12) The other type is also spindle-
shaped, but without white wash; it is
confirmed in burial shaft no 46 of the
Seshem-nefer complex,1 '>) attributed to the
late Sixth Dynasty as well.14-1 This type of
beer-jar was accompanied by well
preserved mud stoppers with a “button” at
the top (Fig. 3).15)
Maidum bowl SQ 02-1138 was found
in shaft 13/7 of chapel 13 (cf. Fig. 4). On
the grounds of the form and characteristic
carination, which is considered as a dating
criterion,l6) the proposed date for this
vessel is the end of the Fifth — early Sixth
Dynasty. But while the form resembles
earlier vessels, such as those from the
complex of Meref-nebef,17-1 the material is
different: not Marl clay, but Nile silt Bl,
and slip that is not brick-red, but dark red,
the surface being not slippery, but “soapy”.
Fig. 5. Mud stopper from chapel 13, Old
Kingdom period. SQ 02-1173
11) Cf. contribution by K. Mysliwiec in this volume.
12) K. Mysliwiec, PAM XI, Reports 1999 (2000), 93-96.
13) T.I. Rzeuska, “West Saqqara 2000. The Pottery”, PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2001), 141-143, fig- 3-
14) K. Mysliwiec, PAM XII, op. cit., 118-119.
15) Identical stoppers were discovered in burial shaft 31 belonging to Pehi, cf. Mysliwiec, PAM XI, op. cit., 93-96, thus
providing further confirmation of the dating.
16) P. Ballet, “Essai de classification des coupes type Maidum-bowl du sondage nord de 'Ayn-Asil (Oasis de Dakhla).
Typologie et Evolution”, CCE I (1987), 1 -16; recently, L. Op de Beeck, "Restrictions for the use of Maidum-bowls as
chronological indicators”, CdE LXXV (2000), Fasc. 149, 5-14.
17) T.I. Rzeuska, The Pottery from the Funerary Complex of Vizier Merefnebef, op. cit , 164, pi. 26, no. SQ 98-490.
148
EGYPT
The ceramic assemblage from chapel 13
is not as straightforward apparently. Red
slipped beer-jars are present, so it is likely
that the two structures, 13 and 14,
functioned contemporaneously for some
time. However, to judge by its irregular
plan, chapel 13 was later than 14, cut in
the rock already when chapel 14 was
functioning.n) The number of shafts inside
chapel 13 (eight in total) suggests long
usage, a deduction confirmed by the
ceramic assemblage, which includes,
beside the same kind of pottery as in
chapel 14, also later pieces that do not
appear there. Two other types of beer-jars
are just as frequent as the red slipped
variety. One is a spindle-shaped jar with
gently rounded shoulders narrowing
toward the rim; these pots were made of
Nile silt C and their characteristic feature
is a white-washed external surface. Jars of
this type have already been found in the
Saqqara West necropolis — in the funerary
enclosure of Pehi, dated to the late Sixth
Dynasty.12) The other type is also spindle-
shaped, but without white wash; it is
confirmed in burial shaft no 46 of the
Seshem-nefer complex,1 '>) attributed to the
late Sixth Dynasty as well.14-1 This type of
beer-jar was accompanied by well
preserved mud stoppers with a “button” at
the top (Fig. 3).15)
Maidum bowl SQ 02-1138 was found
in shaft 13/7 of chapel 13 (cf. Fig. 4). On
the grounds of the form and characteristic
carination, which is considered as a dating
criterion,l6) the proposed date for this
vessel is the end of the Fifth — early Sixth
Dynasty. But while the form resembles
earlier vessels, such as those from the
complex of Meref-nebef,17-1 the material is
different: not Marl clay, but Nile silt Bl,
and slip that is not brick-red, but dark red,
the surface being not slippery, but “soapy”.
Fig. 5. Mud stopper from chapel 13, Old
Kingdom period. SQ 02-1173
11) Cf. contribution by K. Mysliwiec in this volume.
12) K. Mysliwiec, PAM XI, Reports 1999 (2000), 93-96.
13) T.I. Rzeuska, “West Saqqara 2000. The Pottery”, PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2001), 141-143, fig- 3-
14) K. Mysliwiec, PAM XII, op. cit., 118-119.
15) Identical stoppers were discovered in burial shaft 31 belonging to Pehi, cf. Mysliwiec, PAM XI, op. cit., 93-96, thus
providing further confirmation of the dating.
16) P. Ballet, “Essai de classification des coupes type Maidum-bowl du sondage nord de 'Ayn-Asil (Oasis de Dakhla).
Typologie et Evolution”, CCE I (1987), 1 -16; recently, L. Op de Beeck, "Restrictions for the use of Maidum-bowls as
chronological indicators”, CdE LXXV (2000), Fasc. 149, 5-14.
17) T.I. Rzeuska, The Pottery from the Funerary Complex of Vizier Merefnebef, op. cit , 164, pi. 26, no. SQ 98-490.
148