DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41333#0091
Rafal Kolinski
Poznan
Pottery Marks - Evidence for Early Writing Practices in Thinite Egypt
and Early Dynastic Mesopotamia*
Terminology
Before the actual pottery marks are considered
I should like to explain the reason why I use the
term “pottery marks” instead of the more frequen-
tly used term “potters' marks”. The term “potters'
mark” originates from the Middle Ages when craft-
sman producing pottery used incised “marks” to
identify their products. Marks were usually located
°n a part of a vessel that was not visible to its user
after the pot was formed and prior to its firing. The
“pottery marks” of the ancient Near East were also
incised in the potters’ workshop prior to firing pots
but as they were usually located on a shoulder of
the vessel and were easily observable they most
probably served another purpose. I propose to
use the term “pottery marks” to describe these
signs because it allows for other interpretations of
its purpose.
Early Dynastic Pottery Marks of Egypt
The custom of incising signs on pottery vessels
is nearly as old as the use of pottery itself. It is
known in Egypt from the Predynastic Period (Me-
rimde Beni Salame) and continues throughout the
Dynastic and Post-dynastic Periods of its history.
Nevertheless, the pottery marks were never as
abundant or as often applied on the pottery as
during the relatively short period of dynasties
0 and I. In my description of the Early Dynastic
pottery marks of Egypt I focus on a paper by
Edwin van den BRINK, published in 1992.1
* This lecture was originally prepared for the conference
“5000 years of the invention of writing", held in Baghdad
in March 2001. For independent reasons I was not able to
attend this conference. I am much obliged to Mrs Joanna
POPIELSKA-GRZYBOWSKA for an invitation to the Se-
cond Central European Conference of Young Egyptolo-
gists, which gave me the opportunity to present the follo-
wing paper to the audience of Egyptologists.
1 E.C.M. van den BRINK, Corpus and Numerical Evalu-
Signs on early Egyptian pottery were executed with
a sharp-tipped tool, probably of flint or with a wide
and blunt instrument of wood, sometimes 8 mm wide.
No relation between the nature of the tool used and
the shape of vessel was observed, although the marks
executed with blunt instalments are rarer and are usu-
ally comprised of probably floral-related signs. Both
groups were executed by prior firing. The only excep-
tion are imported vessels of Palestinian origin. More
than twenty such pots are known, all of them with
signs made after being brought to Egypt. A few of
them, also bear “potters' marks” located on the base
of the pot, evidently applied in potters' workshops.2
The corpus presented by van den BRINK com-
prised 3660 potmarks,3 excluding serekh signs, city
determinatives even when accompanied by other
signs and floral-related signs executed with a blunt
tool. It is certainly far from completeness, as no evi-
dence from some important sites such as Buto or
Hierakonopolis was included. The signs were ap-
plied to the pottery deposited in graves of the period
corresponding to the 0 and 1st dynasties. They are
relatively well dated by means of impressions of in-
scribed seals found in graves. Potmarks were rarely
applied before the reign of Hor-Aha. During the re-
igns of subsequent rulers of the 1st dynasty the num-
ber of pottery marks increased to a peak during the
reign of Den/Udimu. The number of marks decre-
ased significantly during the reigns of Andjib and Se-
merkhet to disappear almost totally after the reign of
Qaa, the last king of the 1st dynasty.4 The most nu-
ation of the “Thinite” potmarks, in: R. FRIEDMANN,
B. ADAMS, The Followers of Horns. Studies dedica-
ted to Michael Allen Hoffman 1944-1990, Egyptian
Studies Association Publication No. 2, Oxbow Mono-
graph 20, Oxford 1992 (hereinafter referred to as: “Thi-
nite” potmarks), pp. 265-296.
2 van den BRINK, “Thinite" potmarks, p. 274 and footnote 6.
3 Ibidem, p. 273, tab. 1.
4 Ibidem, p. 272, fig. 5.
85
Poznan
Pottery Marks - Evidence for Early Writing Practices in Thinite Egypt
and Early Dynastic Mesopotamia*
Terminology
Before the actual pottery marks are considered
I should like to explain the reason why I use the
term “pottery marks” instead of the more frequen-
tly used term “potters' marks”. The term “potters'
mark” originates from the Middle Ages when craft-
sman producing pottery used incised “marks” to
identify their products. Marks were usually located
°n a part of a vessel that was not visible to its user
after the pot was formed and prior to its firing. The
“pottery marks” of the ancient Near East were also
incised in the potters’ workshop prior to firing pots
but as they were usually located on a shoulder of
the vessel and were easily observable they most
probably served another purpose. I propose to
use the term “pottery marks” to describe these
signs because it allows for other interpretations of
its purpose.
Early Dynastic Pottery Marks of Egypt
The custom of incising signs on pottery vessels
is nearly as old as the use of pottery itself. It is
known in Egypt from the Predynastic Period (Me-
rimde Beni Salame) and continues throughout the
Dynastic and Post-dynastic Periods of its history.
Nevertheless, the pottery marks were never as
abundant or as often applied on the pottery as
during the relatively short period of dynasties
0 and I. In my description of the Early Dynastic
pottery marks of Egypt I focus on a paper by
Edwin van den BRINK, published in 1992.1
* This lecture was originally prepared for the conference
“5000 years of the invention of writing", held in Baghdad
in March 2001. For independent reasons I was not able to
attend this conference. I am much obliged to Mrs Joanna
POPIELSKA-GRZYBOWSKA for an invitation to the Se-
cond Central European Conference of Young Egyptolo-
gists, which gave me the opportunity to present the follo-
wing paper to the audience of Egyptologists.
1 E.C.M. van den BRINK, Corpus and Numerical Evalu-
Signs on early Egyptian pottery were executed with
a sharp-tipped tool, probably of flint or with a wide
and blunt instrument of wood, sometimes 8 mm wide.
No relation between the nature of the tool used and
the shape of vessel was observed, although the marks
executed with blunt instalments are rarer and are usu-
ally comprised of probably floral-related signs. Both
groups were executed by prior firing. The only excep-
tion are imported vessels of Palestinian origin. More
than twenty such pots are known, all of them with
signs made after being brought to Egypt. A few of
them, also bear “potters' marks” located on the base
of the pot, evidently applied in potters' workshops.2
The corpus presented by van den BRINK com-
prised 3660 potmarks,3 excluding serekh signs, city
determinatives even when accompanied by other
signs and floral-related signs executed with a blunt
tool. It is certainly far from completeness, as no evi-
dence from some important sites such as Buto or
Hierakonopolis was included. The signs were ap-
plied to the pottery deposited in graves of the period
corresponding to the 0 and 1st dynasties. They are
relatively well dated by means of impressions of in-
scribed seals found in graves. Potmarks were rarely
applied before the reign of Hor-Aha. During the re-
igns of subsequent rulers of the 1st dynasty the num-
ber of pottery marks increased to a peak during the
reign of Den/Udimu. The number of marks decre-
ased significantly during the reigns of Andjib and Se-
merkhet to disappear almost totally after the reign of
Qaa, the last king of the 1st dynasty.4 The most nu-
ation of the “Thinite” potmarks, in: R. FRIEDMANN,
B. ADAMS, The Followers of Horns. Studies dedica-
ted to Michael Allen Hoffman 1944-1990, Egyptian
Studies Association Publication No. 2, Oxbow Mono-
graph 20, Oxford 1992 (hereinafter referred to as: “Thi-
nite” potmarks), pp. 265-296.
2 van den BRINK, “Thinite" potmarks, p. 274 and footnote 6.
3 Ibidem, p. 273, tab. 1.
4 Ibidem, p. 272, fig. 5.
85