Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

on open forms (plates and closed ones (bot-
tles) over an extended period of time from
the middle of the 7 th to the beginning of the
10th century. The shape and the ornament
point to a date for bottle Nd.05.140 in the
8th through early 10th century.
The remaining bottles appear to be of
similar shape despite insignificant
differences in the tooling of the rim.
Incomplete bottle Nd.05.145 with its bag-
shaped body and weakly marked base
represents a form typical of the 9th-10th
century, although unlike the majority of
such bottles which were made of Nile silt, it
was made of a hard red fabric.
Bottles Nd.05.196, Nd.05.197 and
Nd.05.201, all of Nile silt, featuring a weak
tape rim, slightly flaring neck and steep
shoulders, resemble Kubiak 6A type which
was popular at Fustat in layers from the
middle of the 10th to the end of the 11th
century.21
Amphora or bottle bottoms from the
deposit are relatively thin-walled and
covered with fine ribbing. They resemble
the bottoms of bag-shaped bottles of the
10th-11th century. Body sherds with wavy
ornament, incised and underscored with
cream-colored paint, have also been found.
Similarly decorated bodies of bottles from
the lOth-early 11th century have been
recorded on many sites of the period,
Naqlun included (sectors D and A.A).
Qulla Nd.05.105, incomplete, made of
Nile clay, has broad and steep shoulders,
bulging body and hollow base. This kind of
base was observed on vessels from room C of
hermitage 89, as well as on an incomplete
thin-walled pot of marl clay with globular

body (juglqulla}) Nd.00.295, discovered in
room AA.40.4, from where the pottery
assemblage has been dated generally to the
8th-9th century, perhaps through the 10th.
The thick walls of the qulla and overall body
shape place it rather in the group of vessels
coming from sector D and A. A, dated to the
9th-10th century.
The rare cooking pots in the assemblage
represent mostly thin-walled vessels with
large mouths. Cooking pot Nd.05.103 is
made of Nile silt and it is a big thin-walled
vessel with wide flaring rim, very much like
vessels from Hermitage 25 (e.g. Nd.
89-323, although the rims there were not as
flaring as in this case). Of similar shape is
a slightly smaller pot found in a storage pit
inside room B.l of Hermitage 25, the fill of
which is generally dated to the third quarter
of the 7th century.22 A similar form on
Elephantine, classified as Gempeler K225
(with ribbing) has been dated to the 5th/6th
century.23 These datings appear to be too
early with regard to our specimen. Of
similar shape is cooking pot Nd.05.155, of
Nile silt, big and thin-walled, featuring
a wide, strongly flaring rim (Dia. 28.0 cm),
and virtually straight walls.
Cooking pot Nd.05.104 made of Nile
silt, thin-walled, with ellipsoid body and
slightly flaring rim, recalls vessels found in
the fireplace in room AA.40.4, dated to the
9th century (Nd.00.592). A fragmentarily
preserved cooking pot Nd.05.156 made of
Nile silt, thin-walled and with wide flaring
rim (Dia. 22.0 cm) and carinated wall,
resembles in shape a vessel discovered above
the floor of room D.15 (Nd.92.335), where
the accumulated fill was dated to the 9th-

21 See note 6 above.
22 Godlewski, Derda, Gorecki, op. cit., 234.
23 Gempeler, op. cit., 152, PI. 86.17.
24 Gorecki, PAM IV, op. cit., 65.
25 Gempeler, op. cit., 162, PI. 95.4.

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