Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

SAQQARA

EGYPT

SAQQARA 2006: THE POTTERY

Teodozja Izabela Rzeuska

Excavations in 2006 were focused on the
eastern part of the explored site, in the
sector of the necropolis directly adjoining
the enclosure wall of the Netjerykhet
funerary complex (see above, report by

K. Mysliwiec in this volume). Most of the
pottery assemblage represented the late Old
Kingdom with the rest forming small
groups dated to the Archaic, early Old
Kingdom, New Kingdom and later periods.

ARCHAIC - EARLY OLD KINGDOM
(THIRD-LOURTH DYNASTIES)

Seldom represented in the material from
the West Saqqara burial ground, Archaic
Period sherds have been limited so far
mainly to fragments of bowls with orange-
or light red-slipped and burnished or
“half-burnished” surface(s) (Rzeuska 2004:
202-205, PI. lxxxix). This year for the
first time other vessel types have been
recorded. One such type is a tall jar(s) with
rolled rim, tapering body and rounded
base with or without rope bands around
shoulder, waist, and bottom (often referred
to as a “wine jar”), handmade of Marl Al(?)
with red-slipped and burnished outer
surface. The nearest parallels were discov-
ered in the Archaic necropolis at Saqqara,
giving a date for these sherds in the First-
Second Dynasties (Emery 1954: Fig. 97;
1958: Pis lxxii, XXX). Other types include
a small cylindrical jar with flat base, hand-
made of Marl A2. In both cases, however,
nothing but body sherds have been
collected, making precise typological
identification impossible. The fragments
were found in context with late Old

Kingdom pottery in the sector directly
adjacent to the step pyramid's enclosure
wall. So far it has not proved possible to
determine the original place of these vessels.
Pottery from the early Old Kingdom is
much more prolific, which is hardly
surprising in view of the appreciably big
group recovered earlier from the site
(Rzeuska 2002: 151-153). To date, two
types of jars and one type of bowl have been
recorded (Rzeuska 2002: 151-153), and
they were present in the material from this
season as well. The most numerous were
beer jars handmade of Nile B2 or C with
untreated surfaces. Rims with the
characteristic groove a few centimeters
below the edge, represented by fragment
SQ 06-1808 (Dia.rim 8-9 cm), are the most
common, while bases, such as SQ 06-1707
and SQ 06-1780 [Fig. I},1 apparently
shapeless and not distinctive, are actually
easily recognizable. They are massive, very
thick and narrow, especially in comparison
with the bases of late Old Kingdom beer
jars; on the outside there is often a little

1 All drawings by the author, inking by M. Orzechowska.

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