Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

MtoM - MEROWE SHERIQ, TANQASI, ZUMA

SUDAN

times albeit in slightly changed form,
featured round or oval bodies, rounded
bottoms and necks of various length, but
relatively narrow compared to the body. The
most common name for these vessels in
publications, 'beer jars', is hardly justifiable
as it has never been proved that they were
used to store beer exclusively, if at all. They
were used for storage and on a few rare
occasions some organic material has been
found inside bottles found in tomb
contexts. It is hoped that there will be more
emphasis placed on analysis of the contents
of these bottles in the future.
The Tanqasi assemblage contains three
complete [Fig. 12:1-3] and one fragmentary
bottle [Fig. 12:4], all of a type typical in the
region between the third and fourth
cataracts (El-Tayeb 2002: 75). The average-
sized bottle is of a height between 30 and
39 cm, well made, the outer surface slipped
or well burnished, the neck medium-long,
straight or slightly flaring in the direction
of the rim. The biggest one [Fig. 12:3] has
small lungs on opposite sides of opposite the
shoulders and a red-slipped surface that has
been burnished all over. Similar bottles are
hardly common in post-Meroitic tombs and
each is apparently a little bit different.
A very similar piece but smaller was
discovered in Jebel Kulgeili (Abdel
Rahman, Kabashy 1999: Fig. 11.8).
Cooking vessels come in two variants.
The smaller one [Fig. 14] is represented by
three vessels: globular pot, shallow bowl
and much bigger pot. All have clay roughly
applied with the fingers on the base and
lower part of the body, probably to disperse
the heat of a fire more effectively through
the body of the vessel. This type is rather
frequent in post-Meroitic burials in this
region (e.g. Philips, El-Tayeb 2003: PI. 7).
The bigger variant is a category unto itself,

more characteristic in territories lying
further to the south and finding no parallels
in the Dongola Reach [Fig. 13]· One bears
a faint impression of matting on the body
[Fig. 13:1], the other is plain [Fig. 13:2],
both 33-34 cm in diameter and 34 cm in
height. The third vessel is a flat bowl with
extra clay applied on the bottom and finely
polished walls inside [Fig. 13:3]·
None of the cooking pots show any trace
of use, the blackening seen on the surface
being due to firing.
VESSELS
FROM THE FILL OF THE SHAFT
More than 70 sherds came from different
layers of the fill found inside in the shaft.
Most of these were severely damaged body
fragments and a few had even been used for
digging to judge by the worn and rounded
breaks. Only two of the vessels were wheel-
made, the rest were mostly thick-walled,
handmade vessels, some with traces of
impressed decoration, a few red-slipped, but
mostly with very damaged surface.
Meriting attention in this group are
three vessels, broken but still better
preserved than others. One is a shallow open
bowl with incised rim, found in the
northern part of the shaft. It was strongly
burned, even sooted as evidence of its heavy
use [Fig. 13:3]· Another unique vessel is
a wheel-made goblet [Fig. 13:1], its broken
pieces scattered in opposite ends of the
shaft. Post-Meroitic burials from the
Dongola Reach are not known to contain
such vessels, the nearest parallels coming
from Meroitic and Post-Meroitic Lower
Nubia (e.g. Edwards 1998: 72). The shaft
assemblage also included the shoulders and
body of a bottle of much worse quality than
the same kind of vessels from the tomb
chambers [Fig. 13:2],

490