"Upper Egypt Pottery Workshop - Connectivity and Cultural Influence"
Laura Rembart, Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
“Material culture in Upper Egypt. Studies on the ceramic find material from Syene and Elephantine.”
Abstract: “The Upper Egyptian city of Syene, modern Aswan, and the neighbouring Nile island of Elephantine were an economic and political centre in antiquity and formed an important link between Egypt and Nubia to the south. Both cities functioned as a trading hub for exchanging goods to and from Inner Africa. As the southernmost city of the Ptolemaic and later the Roman Empire, Syene also had an administrative and military role. With the development of new clay deposits, a large pottery centre arose in the Aswan area in the 2nd century BCE, whose products made from the so-called Aswan Pink Clay were very popular and exported throughout Egypt from the early imperial period onwards. At least for the late antiquity, an export beyond the borders is proven. The position as a trading city is also reflected in the local pottery production and the Mediterranean influences that can be noticed. The Aswan Pink Clay - a clay paste, visually appearing in a pinkish colour and being associated to kaolinite was probably mined at many different extraction sites. Petrographic analyses made it possible to distinguish four different clay pastes. Since, so far, no archaeological evidence for larger workshops in the vicinity of Aswan does exist, the question of a pottery production centre must remain open.
In order to better understand the local ceramic production, its export radius, and the definition of local traditions and foreign influences, the ceramic find material from PtolemaicRoman Syene and late antique Elephantine in combination with natural science methods and a geological survey of the wider area was examined and analysed within the FWF project “Housing in Antiquity in Syene/Elephantine, Upper Egypt.”
The event, titled “Upper Egypt Pottery Workshop - Connectivity and Cultural Influence” was organized by Jerzy M. Oleksiak of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School, University of Warsaw and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw.
23 окт 2024
