DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Rzeuska, Teodozja I.: The pottery, 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0181
SAQQARA
EGYPT
beer jars at 14 with some bearing evidence
of being white-washed on the outside. All
represented a type with wide shoulders and
conical bottom (type 7). Also recorded were
fragments of false fillings, inner stoppers,
a few fragments of handmade bread trays
and some red slipped carinated plates. The
pottery, while fragmentary, is evidently
homogeneous and can be dated to a ter-
minal Sixth Dynasty (Pepy II and later).
The beer jars, which have been found in
this necropolis to be the surest chrono-
logical indicator, are identical with the
vessels from the funerary complex of Pehi
(no. 3) and Corridor 2.n An example of
a large-size beer jar was found at the very
bottom of the shaft (SQ 04-1494:
H. 48.4 cm, max. body dia. 37 cm). The
shattered vessel proved largely complete
and restorable. It was made of mixed clay
P. 60. The lower part was hand made by
pinching and coiling, the upper part (arms
and rim) was thrown on the wheel [Fig. 8}.
A few new types of Old Kingdom date
were recorded, as well as some others which
had so far been preserved only fragmen-
tarily. One such type is a bowl of large size,
SQ 04-1488 [Fig. 9]. (H. 20.6 cm, max.
dia. 36.4 cm), made of Nile silt B1 and
thrown on the wheel in two parts, the place
of joining showing the characteristic ob-
lique traces of the potmaker's palms. The
surface was red-slipped. The bowl was
found between burial shafts 23 and 22, in
context with the characteristic bDA bread
moulds exclusively. The latter are shallow
vessels with wide open rim, footed, usually
unfired or very poorly fired, with white-
painted rim.12 To date, vessels of this kind
were found in burial shaft 2 (deposit of
over 100 poorly fired moulds), in the near-
est vicinity and in the neighborhood of
adjacent shafts 22 and 23- The homo-
geneous context permits the bowl to be da-
ted with some caution to the terminal Old
Kingdom, like the bread moulds.
Another type of interest is a large-size vat
made of clay resembling Nile E (high sand
content) and red-slipped on the outside. The
nearest parallel is a vessel from Giza, where
it was found in mastaba G 6030.13
In summary, finds from the 2004 sea-
son have contributed new types of vessels
to be included in the local typology of Late
Old Kingdom pottery. The excavated burial
shafts yielded evidence of offering deposits
composed of, among others, pottery of va-
rious types, but mainly beer jars. The large
quantities of beer jars found in the necro-
polis have permitted a seriation of the jars,
leading in turn to a relative dating of par-
ticular funerary complexes.14 Further de-
posits found in the newly excavated false
shafts confirmed the existence of a custom
to leave the remains of funeral banquets in
these shafts.
11 Rzeuska, PAM XV, op. cit., 136-137, Fig. 4, nos. SQ 03-1282 and SQ 03-1248.
12 T.I. Rzeuska, "Saqqara West 1998", BCE XXII (2001), 20, Fig. 7, no. SQ 98-513.
13 A.M. Roth, A Cemetery of Palace Attendants, Including G2084-2099, 2230-2231 and 2240, Giza Mastabas 6 (Boston
1995), Fig. 129 (G 6030 B: 25-11-80).
14 T.I. Rzeuska, Late Old Kingdom Pottery from Saqqara, Saqqara II (in press).
179
EGYPT
beer jars at 14 with some bearing evidence
of being white-washed on the outside. All
represented a type with wide shoulders and
conical bottom (type 7). Also recorded were
fragments of false fillings, inner stoppers,
a few fragments of handmade bread trays
and some red slipped carinated plates. The
pottery, while fragmentary, is evidently
homogeneous and can be dated to a ter-
minal Sixth Dynasty (Pepy II and later).
The beer jars, which have been found in
this necropolis to be the surest chrono-
logical indicator, are identical with the
vessels from the funerary complex of Pehi
(no. 3) and Corridor 2.n An example of
a large-size beer jar was found at the very
bottom of the shaft (SQ 04-1494:
H. 48.4 cm, max. body dia. 37 cm). The
shattered vessel proved largely complete
and restorable. It was made of mixed clay
P. 60. The lower part was hand made by
pinching and coiling, the upper part (arms
and rim) was thrown on the wheel [Fig. 8}.
A few new types of Old Kingdom date
were recorded, as well as some others which
had so far been preserved only fragmen-
tarily. One such type is a bowl of large size,
SQ 04-1488 [Fig. 9]. (H. 20.6 cm, max.
dia. 36.4 cm), made of Nile silt B1 and
thrown on the wheel in two parts, the place
of joining showing the characteristic ob-
lique traces of the potmaker's palms. The
surface was red-slipped. The bowl was
found between burial shafts 23 and 22, in
context with the characteristic bDA bread
moulds exclusively. The latter are shallow
vessels with wide open rim, footed, usually
unfired or very poorly fired, with white-
painted rim.12 To date, vessels of this kind
were found in burial shaft 2 (deposit of
over 100 poorly fired moulds), in the near-
est vicinity and in the neighborhood of
adjacent shafts 22 and 23- The homo-
geneous context permits the bowl to be da-
ted with some caution to the terminal Old
Kingdom, like the bread moulds.
Another type of interest is a large-size vat
made of clay resembling Nile E (high sand
content) and red-slipped on the outside. The
nearest parallel is a vessel from Giza, where
it was found in mastaba G 6030.13
In summary, finds from the 2004 sea-
son have contributed new types of vessels
to be included in the local typology of Late
Old Kingdom pottery. The excavated burial
shafts yielded evidence of offering deposits
composed of, among others, pottery of va-
rious types, but mainly beer jars. The large
quantities of beer jars found in the necro-
polis have permitted a seriation of the jars,
leading in turn to a relative dating of par-
ticular funerary complexes.14 Further de-
posits found in the newly excavated false
shafts confirmed the existence of a custom
to leave the remains of funeral banquets in
these shafts.
11 Rzeuska, PAM XV, op. cit., 136-137, Fig. 4, nos. SQ 03-1282 and SQ 03-1248.
12 T.I. Rzeuska, "Saqqara West 1998", BCE XXII (2001), 20, Fig. 7, no. SQ 98-513.
13 A.M. Roth, A Cemetery of Palace Attendants, Including G2084-2099, 2230-2231 and 2240, Giza Mastabas 6 (Boston
1995), Fig. 129 (G 6030 B: 25-11-80).
14 T.I. Rzeuska, Late Old Kingdom Pottery from Saqqara, Saqqara II (in press).
179