DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Rzeuska, Teodozja I.: Appendix: Egyptian pottery from the cemetery at el-Gamamiya
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42093#0422
FOURTH CATARACT
SUDAN
Pottery of this type made its appearance in
the early years of the Twelfth Dynasty and
remained popular through the end of the
Middle Kingdom. It was undoubtedly one
of the most elegant and high quality vessels
in use at the time. At first the shape
repertoir was limited to various types of
medium-sized globular pots, most frequently
with a short neck and profiled rim featuring
a characteristic hollowing on the inside,
exactly like the pot found at El-Gamamiya.
The differences were reduced to rim shape
and a bigger or smaller diameter. Over time
new forms appeared, including, in the
second half of the Twelfth Dynasty, jars
with slightly flaring rim which could
be either rounded or flat and wide, jars
with ovoid body, bowls on ring bases with
a characteristic inner ledged rim, plates with
straight rim and round base, and potstands,
the latter two types being much rarer than
the others. Vessels representing Elephantine
Pink Ware are almost always turned on the
wheel (potstands of various kinds are an
exception to this rule), the bottoms string-
cut and smoothed by hand to obliterate
practically all traces of forming. The fine
exterior surface — which is pink, yellow,
cream or a merging of all of the above — is
almost always polished, less often burnished.
With regard to restricted forms, such as all
kinds of jars, only the exterior was
meticulously polished; in plates it was the
inside of the vessel. It should be emphasized
that while jars had the exterior usually well
finished, in the case of open forms the
exterior was treated perfunctorily, at least
when compared to the closed shapes. The
technological uniformity and homogeneity
of the ceramics suggest that a single
workshop or group of workshops could have
been responsible for the manufacture.
Hitherto, however, it has proved impossible
to determine where the vessels of this type
were produced. Considering that Marl A2 is
typical of Upper Egypt, it is thought that the
manufacturing center was at Thebes
(Bourriau 2004: 12), but the Aswan region is
also a distinct possibility. This is suggested
not only by the quantities of ceramics of this
ware found on Elephantine, but primarily
perhaps by the richness of the repertoire
encompassing beside the open forms, which
are found at other sites of the period, also
plates representing tableware.2
Pots of Elephantine Pink Ware must have
been a coveted luxury good considering how
widespread they are. They have been
recorded in assemblages far from Egypt,
extending from the Levantine coast,
e.g. Sydon (Doumet-Serhal 2006: 39, Fig. 13;
Forstner-Miiller, Kopetzky 2006), as far as
Nubia (Privati 2000: Fig. 138; Bourriau
2004; Junker, Toschke: PL. XXII,
Nos 355-357; Bietak 1968: 188, PI. 19,
Nos X.3-5 Hellpolierte Ware·, Dunham
1982: 175, PI. XIVc from tomb K5611, 187,
PI. XXVIa from tomb M4l). They are,
therefore, a precise chronological maker
synchronizing Nubia with Egypt of
the Middle Kingdom. The vessel from the
El-Gamamiya cemetery originates from the
beginnings of the Twelfth Dynasty and can
be dated to the Kerma Moyen I phase
distinguished at the Kerma cemeteries
(Bourriau 2004: 3-4).
2 The author has been working on pottery from the Middle Kingdom within the framework of a project for the study of
ceramics from the German Archaeological Institute’s excavations on Elephantine since 1998; a final report on this pottery
is being prepared for publication in the Elephantine series.
416
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007
SUDAN
Pottery of this type made its appearance in
the early years of the Twelfth Dynasty and
remained popular through the end of the
Middle Kingdom. It was undoubtedly one
of the most elegant and high quality vessels
in use at the time. At first the shape
repertoir was limited to various types of
medium-sized globular pots, most frequently
with a short neck and profiled rim featuring
a characteristic hollowing on the inside,
exactly like the pot found at El-Gamamiya.
The differences were reduced to rim shape
and a bigger or smaller diameter. Over time
new forms appeared, including, in the
second half of the Twelfth Dynasty, jars
with slightly flaring rim which could
be either rounded or flat and wide, jars
with ovoid body, bowls on ring bases with
a characteristic inner ledged rim, plates with
straight rim and round base, and potstands,
the latter two types being much rarer than
the others. Vessels representing Elephantine
Pink Ware are almost always turned on the
wheel (potstands of various kinds are an
exception to this rule), the bottoms string-
cut and smoothed by hand to obliterate
practically all traces of forming. The fine
exterior surface — which is pink, yellow,
cream or a merging of all of the above — is
almost always polished, less often burnished.
With regard to restricted forms, such as all
kinds of jars, only the exterior was
meticulously polished; in plates it was the
inside of the vessel. It should be emphasized
that while jars had the exterior usually well
finished, in the case of open forms the
exterior was treated perfunctorily, at least
when compared to the closed shapes. The
technological uniformity and homogeneity
of the ceramics suggest that a single
workshop or group of workshops could have
been responsible for the manufacture.
Hitherto, however, it has proved impossible
to determine where the vessels of this type
were produced. Considering that Marl A2 is
typical of Upper Egypt, it is thought that the
manufacturing center was at Thebes
(Bourriau 2004: 12), but the Aswan region is
also a distinct possibility. This is suggested
not only by the quantities of ceramics of this
ware found on Elephantine, but primarily
perhaps by the richness of the repertoire
encompassing beside the open forms, which
are found at other sites of the period, also
plates representing tableware.2
Pots of Elephantine Pink Ware must have
been a coveted luxury good considering how
widespread they are. They have been
recorded in assemblages far from Egypt,
extending from the Levantine coast,
e.g. Sydon (Doumet-Serhal 2006: 39, Fig. 13;
Forstner-Miiller, Kopetzky 2006), as far as
Nubia (Privati 2000: Fig. 138; Bourriau
2004; Junker, Toschke: PL. XXII,
Nos 355-357; Bietak 1968: 188, PI. 19,
Nos X.3-5 Hellpolierte Ware·, Dunham
1982: 175, PI. XIVc from tomb K5611, 187,
PI. XXVIa from tomb M4l). They are,
therefore, a precise chronological maker
synchronizing Nubia with Egypt of
the Middle Kingdom. The vessel from the
El-Gamamiya cemetery originates from the
beginnings of the Twelfth Dynasty and can
be dated to the Kerma Moyen I phase
distinguished at the Kerma cemeteries
(Bourriau 2004: 3-4).
2 The author has been working on pottery from the Middle Kingdom within the framework of a project for the study of
ceramics from the German Archaeological Institute’s excavations on Elephantine since 1998; a final report on this pottery
is being prepared for publication in the Elephantine series.
416
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007