Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

This case suggests that, if Maidum bowls
are to be considered as a dating criterion,
then not only the shape, that is, the
characteristic angle of the carination to the
body and the ratio of the rim-to-body
diameter, but also the material of the
vessel, its color and the character of the slip
should be taken into account. The Maidum
bowl was found in the same context with
red-slipped beer-jars, suggesting that the
vessel dates to the reigns of Pepi I and
Merenre. Furthermore, the vessel displays a
technological resemblance to the bowl
with double carination (SQ 02-1166, cf.
Fig. 4); so much, in fact, that the two seem
to be the product of the same potter.
Another luxury pot, an ewer with rim
spout SQ 02-1169 (cf. Fig. 4), also appears

to come from the same “workshop”; it is
made of Nile B1 clay, red-slipped and
“soapy” to the touch'
Jar SQ 02-1161 and stand SQ 02-1155
{Fig. 6), both from the fill of chapel 13,
represent an entirely different workshop.
The clay is the coarser Nile silt B2, but the
outer surface is red-slipped. The bottom
part has been scraped, leaving on the surface
characteristic traces that were common
rather in the second half and in the end of
the Sixth Dynasty. These deep cuts, like the
ones on jar SQ 02-1152 {Fig. 6), may have
been considered as a decorative motif.
Summing up the evidence of the pottery,
it can be said that chapel 13 functioned
from the times of Pepi I — Merenre until the
end of the Sixth Dynasty.


Fig. 6. Pottery from the chapel 13 complex

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