Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

FOURTH CATARACT

SUDAN

same pot can react differently to external
factors like soil, sun, water and salt etc.,
and after lying for a few thousand years
could look different. The vessels were wheel-
made in separate pieces: the two parts of
the body then joined at the carination, and
the neck. In a manner typical of the kind
of clay, Marl A2 or A4 according to the
Vienna Classification system, the exterior is
covered with scum, a thin coating that forms
automatically on the surface of a vessel
during the drying process. The vessel was
painted before firing. The bottom part of
the neck bears one horizontal band, the
upper shoulders are covered with a pattern
consisting of two alternate motifs: six vertical
lines and an X-shaped cross composed of
two crossing sets of six lines each [Fig. 3> left\.
This kind of decoration is very typical of
the early Eighteenth Dynasty, corresponding
to the late Kerma Classique-tzrly Late
Kerma phase (Bourriau 1981: 135, no. 264;
Edwards 2004: 94-97, 102). Analogous
vessels are often found in Nubia (Holthoer
1977: 136-137, 141, PI. 31, type CV 1
broad-necked).
The neck and bottom can belong
to a single vessel made on the wheel of Marl
A4 clay. The ring base was thrown on
the wheel, pointing to the times after the
Second Intermediate period. Three painted

horizontal lines appear on the lower part
of the neck: a red one is sandwiched between
black ones. The decoration is typical
of medium-sized jars with rounded rim,
straight broad neck, globular body and ring-
base (Holthoer 1977: 92-93, 95-96,
PI. 21, type JU 1 ordinary.). Assuming the
reconstruction is correct, it should have had
a handle from the neck to the shoulders
[Fig. 3, right]. The body was decorated
probably with vertical lines. It is not to
be excluded, however, that the neck comes
from an entirely different pot, that is, a tall
jar with straight rim, slightly flaring body
and rounded bottom, decorated in the
upper part with horizontal red and black
lines. This kind of bichrome decoration,
occasionally adorned with large-size dots on
the color bands, “swallows on a wire”, is
typical of the middle of the Eighteenth
Dynasty, that is, the reigns of Hatshepsut and
Tuthmosis III (Bourriau 1981: 78-79,
no. 150). Vessels of this type were extremely
popular in Egypt and a large quantity is
known from Nubia (Holthoer 1977: PI. 21,
type JU 1 ordinary, IIIP).
In conclusion, the vessel from the burial
itself comes from the early Twelfth Dynasty,
while the fragments found on top of the
funerary mound are from the first half of the
Eighteenth Dynasty.

REFERENCES

Bietak, M.
1968 Studien zur Chronologie der nubischen C-Gruppe. Ein Beitrag zur Fruhgeschichte
Unternubiens zwischen 2200 und 1550 vor Chr., Wien
Bourriau, J.
1981 Umm el-Ga’ab. Pottery from the Nile Valley before the Arab Conquest, Cambridge
2004 Egyptian pottery in Kerma Ancien, Kerma Moyen and Kerma Classique graves at Kerma
[in:] T. Kendall (ed.), Nubian Studies 1998. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference
of Nubian Studies, August 20-26, 1998, Boston, Massachusetts, Boston

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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007