Ancient Egyptian Technology , Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt

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International Journal of Science and Engineering

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Galal Ali Hassaan

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Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt, Part X: Pottery Industry (Middle to New Kingdoms) Department of Mechanical Design & Production, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

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[email protected]

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Abstract— This research paper explores the development of mechanical engineering in terms of the development of the pottery industry during the era from the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom. The development of the pottery design and decoration is traced with samples of pottery ware are presented and analyzed. The decoration technique of the pottery ware during the period from the Middle to the New Kingdoms is investigated with samples. Different kinds of pottery ware are outlined with description of their main parts. Keywords— Mechanical engineering history, ancient Egypt, pottery industry, Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom.

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I. I. INTRODUCTION Pottery industry reflects a large portion of domestic ware used during the daily life in ancient Egypt. Because ancient Egyptians were so generous, the invented too many types of pottery ware suitable for various applications. During the predynastic periods they produced two-colors pottery through burning, decorated pottery through painting and innovative product-designs. Part IX of this series of research papers presented the pottery industry up to the Old Kingdom, and here in Part X, the era from the Middle Kingdom to the Late Period is covered.

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Williams (1992) studied the pottery in the New Kingdom: its manufacture, classification and its shape [1]. McGovern (1997) studied the wine in Egypt during the New Kingdom, a period of remarkable international's and cultural development as he said. He presented some designs of the pottery amphoras and flasks used to store the Egyptian wine. He analyzed the fabrics of the exterior and interior surfaces of the amphoras as affected by the firing during its production [2]. Spencer (2006) announced that the amount of the Late Period Egyptian Pottery from Noukratis in museum collection is small. He also stated that the Egyptian wares could not match the attractiveness and interest of the fine Greek pottery that covered the site. He analyzed some pottery including dishes, bowls, cups and vessels in some museums including the British Museum [3]. Wodzinska (2007) made a provisional assessment of the potters from the survey at Tell el-Retaba indicating that most of the recorded vessels were from Late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period. Few shreds were associated with the Late Period and probably one from the Ptolmic Age. She showed that the Late New Kingdom – Third Intermediate pots were either uncoated or had a white/pinkish slip [4].

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Marcus et. Al. (2008) studied the Egyptian pottery during the Middle Kingdom in Tel Ifshar. They presented and discussed the material in stratignaphic order and classified the pottery fabrics according to the 'Vienna System' [5]. Budka (2009) studied a case study of blue painted pottery at three Upper Egyptian sites essentially an inquiry into contexts and material during the New Kingdom. He studied three case studies of pottery from Elephantine, South Abedos and Umm el-Qaab [6]. Wodzinska (2010) investigated the Egyptian pottery during Naqada III, Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom. She studied the pottery material , manufacture, surface treatment and types. She presented colored photos for pottery from the time periods she studied [7]. Rzepka et. Al. (2011) studied the houses and some findings in Tel el-Retaba in the north-east of Egypt during the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period. Among the findings were pottery and ceramic ware from the 18th, 19th dynasties and the Thirs Intermediate Period [8].

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Brietak and Kopetzky (2012) investigated some pottery ware from the Middle Kingdom to New Kingdom in Northern Sinai, Tell el-Daba and Kerma [9]. Panagiotou (2014) in her research for a Ph.D. degree put some questions and tried to answer them in the course of her thesis: How much ?, When ?, Where ? and Why ?. She explored the characteristics of pottery and the changes in it during the second millennium BC in the eastern

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Mediterranean including: Egypt, Southern Levant, Northern Levant, Cyprus and Aegean [10]. Hassaan (2016) studied the pottery industry in ancient Egypt during the periods from Badarian of the Predynastic to the Old Kingdom. He presented samples of the available Egyptian pottery around the world allocated to the periods under study. He performed some analysis illustrating some of the characteristics, location (if known), origin (if known), decoration and manufacture [11].

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II. MIDDLE KINGDOM The Middle Kingdom covers the 11th and 12th dynasties during the time span from 2000 to 1700 BC [12]. Some of the pottery samples from the Middle Kingdom and their characteristics are presented below: - Fig.1 shows a pottery jar from early Middle Kingdom (11th dynasty, about 2000 BC) located in Petrie Museum of UK [13]. The jar has an ovoid body, short neck, medium mouth, round rim and slight-flat base. It has only one handle, one color without any type of decoration. - Fig.2 shows a tall pottery vase from early Middle Kingdom (11th dynasty) located in the Petrie Museum [14]. It has an ovoid body, medium neck, shallow mouth, wide round rim, and medium flat base. The outside surface is polished and has one color without any decoration. The neck and base are integrated smoothly with the body.

Fig.1 Pottery jar from early Middle Kingdom [13].

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Fig.3 shows a unique model from the early Middle Kingdom (11th dynasty) at Sedment (belongs now to Bani-Sweif Governorate) and displayed in Petrie Museum [15]. This is a unique design invented by the Egyptians in Upper Egypt. The pottery stand supports five pottery jars or pots. Because pottery are relatively porous, they leak liquids in it specially water. Therefore, I think that the objective of this pottery stand is to reserve leaked water and collects it in one container. The 6th hole in the front is in a level below that of the jars resting on the stand. Thus, most properly it is for discharging the stand or maintaining the water level at an assigned level. Another models of pottery jars from the 11th dynasty is shown in Fig.4. They are from the tomb of Aashait at Der el-Bahri of Egypt and now displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art at NY [16]. The body is ovoid, the neck is short, the rim is round and the base is round. It has no handles and without any decorations. Most probably they storage jars.

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Fig.2 Tall vase from early Middle Kingdom [14].

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Fig.3 Multi-jars stand [15].

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Fig.4 Jars from tomb of Aashait (11th dynasty) [16].

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Now, we move to some pottery samples from the 12 th dynasty. Fig.5 shows a number of pottery jars and bowls from the tomb of Queen Weret II from the pyramid complex of King Senwosret III (the 5th King of the 12th dynasty of the Middle Kingdom) [17]. There are three jars and two bowls displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The three jars have different designs. The bowls have same design but of different capacity. All the units have a flat base and no decoration. The polishing degree varies from unit to another.

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Fig.5 Queen Weret II pottery ware [17].

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A model from the 12th dynasty has a unique design and color. It is a white jar shown in Fig.6 and located in Petrie Museum [18]. It has an ovoid body, short small diameter neck, flat-side tall rim and round base. The body is decorated by geometrical shapes which is uncommon in this period. A large collection of pottery ware from the tomb of lady Senebtisi at Lisht during the rein of King Amenemhat III of the 12th dynasty is shown in Fig.7 as displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art [19]. The jars have different designs and three levels of length. The dishes have one design and one size. All the pottery ware are shown in Fig.7 not decorated.

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Fig.6 White jar from 12th dynasty [18].

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Fig.7 Pottery collection from tomb of lady Seebtisi of the 12 th dynasty [19].

Decorated pottery from the 12th dynasty: Fig.8 shows three different decoration schemes. The scheme in (a) depends on scratching the external surface of the pot (the top half of the body) . The scheme in (b) consists of a zigzag line bounded by two straight lines on the external surface of the pot in its top half. The decoration scheme in (c) depends or corrugating the body of the pot over the whole body. The three models have one color and located in Petrie Museum [20], [21], [22]. In the 12th dynasty, they decorated some of their pottery plates internally. Fig.9 shows two plates decorated internally by scratching the internal surface (or using a special mold) by scenes for plants and nearly straight lines

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(a) or by parallel curves with free space filled by parallel crossed-straight lines [23], [24]. They are displayed in the Petrie Museum.

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(a) Spherical decorated pot [20]. (b) Ovoid decorated pot [21]. (c) Corrugated pot [22]. Fig.8 Decorated pots from the 12th dynasty.

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(a) With parallel lines [23] (b) With parallel curves [24]. Fig.9 Decorated plates from the 12th dynasty.

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III. SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD This period of the Egyptian history covers the 13th to 17th dynasty during the interval from 1802 to 1550 BC [25]. During this period, North Egypt was invaded by Hyksos coming from Palestine and hence, this is expected to reflect on the pottery industry in this region during the period of the 2nd Intermediate Period [26]. Here are samples of pottery production during this period: - Fig.10 (a) shows a classical pottery plate without any decoration displayed in the Petrie Museum [27]. It has nor decorations ,the base has a medium dimension and the body has uniform accurate dimensions. A unique design of a pottery bowl is shown in Fig.10 (b) [28]. The rim is squeezed from 4 sides to form 4 spouts without any decoration. Another un-decorated bowl design is shown in Fig.10 (c) [29]. It has a conical body, double-conical rim and a medium base. A white ovoid jar is shown in Fig.10 (d) [30]. It has a narrow-short neck, medium mouth, round rim and flat small base.

(a) Pottery plate [27]

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(b) Pottery spouted bowl [28]

(c) Long bowl [29]

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The impact of the Hyksos invasion to Egypt on the pottery industry is illustrated from models found in the Tell el-Yahudyah district and displayed in the Petrie Museum. Fig.11 (a) shows a black pottery jar with an ovoid body, medium neck, round rim, single hand between the rim and body and medium base. A similar model is shown in Fig.11 (b) but with double conical body with decoration through crossed straight lines.

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(d) White ovoid jar [30]. Fig.10 Plate and bowl from the 2nd Intermediate Period.

(a) Black jar [31] (b) Double conical jar [32] Fig.11 Jars from Tell el-Yahudyah. A unique model from Upper Egypt at Thebes is from tomb B23 of the 17th dynasty is shown in Fig.12 and displayed in Petrie Museum [33]. It is a vessel taking of a design simulating a duck with body decoration in the form of duck-feathering and one handle in the top. The vessel mouth is narrow located near the duck-head and the rim is flat. This design a pure ancient Egypt design and not affected by the Hyksos culture who were in Lower Egypt.

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Fig.12 Duck-vessel from the 17th dynasty [33].

Pottery decoration in the 2nd Intermediate Period: The pottery decoration experienced in the Middle Kingdom continued to take place during the 2 nd Intermediate Period. Samples of the decorated pottery ware are shown in Fig.13. In Fig.13 (a), the pottery technician used scratched-plants scene on the internal surface of the plate. In Fig.13 (b) he used external figures (may be for snakes) arranged on the rim of the pottery ware. In Fig.13 (c) he decorated the jar through corrugating its body. In Fig.13 (d) the designer went back to one of the decoration techniques used in the Predynastic period using the

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(c) Corrugated body jar [36] Fig.13 Pottery decoration from 2nd Intermediate Period.

(d) 2-colors jar [37]

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(a) Decorated plate fragment [34]. (b) Decorated fragment [35]

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firing technique to produce two colors [11]. Other decoration schemes are depicted in the pottery ware shown in Figs.11 (b) and 12.

IV. NEW KINGDOM th The new kingdom includes the 18 to 20 dynasties covering a time span from 1570 to 1069 BC [38]. This one of the richest and strongest periods in the Egyptian old history. Therefore, we expect to see a highly developed pottery industry during this kingdom. It is well known that the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt was the richest one over the whole old history of Egypt. Wonderful pottery ware from the 18 th dynasty reflect this historical fact. Extensive novel decorations of the pottery ware took place during this rich dynasty as illustrated below: 18th dynasty: - Fig.14 (a) shows a pottery jar from the palace of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, the 9 th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty [39]. The jar has an ovoid body, medium neck, round rim and round base. It has 2 big handles. It is decorated by an animal head at the neck and painting scenes in 2 colors covering about 60 % of the body, the neck, rim and handles. Another model of the decorated pottery of the 18th dynasty is shown in Fig.14 (b) from the rein of Pharaoh Akhenaten, the 10th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty [39]. The design is similar to that shown in Fig.14 (a) but it has no handles and the surface of red color is highly shining. The decoration bands are narrow and cover about 50 % of the body. Another example of decorated pottery using multi-color painting is shown in Fig.14 (c) from rein of Pharaoh Akhenaten [40]. It has a decorating bands with scenes for lotus and papyrus plants and geometrical shapes. There is a wide decorating band on the body plus one more narrow decorating band. The neck is also decorated. The bands are outlined by black straight lines. There is a red straight line on the neck.

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(a) Jar from Amenhotep III palace [39]

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(b) Jar from rein of Akhenaten [39]

(c) Jar from rein of Akhenaten [40]

Fig.14 Decorated pottery ware.

Now , we move to the rein of the young rich Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the 13th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The whole world knows the high technological treasures of Pharaoh Tut [41]. Fig.15 shows a water colored jar for Pharaoh Tut [42]. The body is ovoid, the neck is long, the mouth is wide decreasing gradually to the neck diameter, the rim is round and the base is round. It is decorated by 2

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Finally, a model from the tomb of Pharaoh Horemheb, the last Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty is shown in Fig.16 [43]. It has a complex body design, narrow mouth, short neck, ,flat base and a vertical sprout. It has external decoration most probably through painting.

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Fig.15 Colored water jar of Pharaoh Tut [42]

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colors: red color for 3 areas on the body, neck and rim-neck transition and light blue in 2 bands on the body and neck.

Fig.16 Jar from the tomb of Horemheb [43].

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Now, we present a fantastic sample of the wonderful pottery vessels of the 18th dynasty. It is a long necked decorated vessel found at Abydos, shown in Fig.17 and displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston [44]. Its body is ovoid, its neck is cylindrical and long, its lip is conical, its base is flat. The body is extensively decorated with multi-colors-scenes within parallel bands in the top half of the body. The rim is decorated by plant scenes and the neck is decorated by 3 parallel lines near its top end. Mrs. Peterson says that this unit was modeled around a core and not by throw [44].

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Fig.17 Long-necked vessel [44].

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Fig.18 Painted jar from 18th dynasty [45].

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Another model of painted pottery from the late 18 th dynasty is shown in Fig.18 [45]. It has an ovoid body, no neck, small rim, medium mouth and round base. It is painted over about 60 % of its body using plant-scenes set between bands varying in width. The painting is in a light blue color. The last three models from the 18th dynasty are shown in Fig.19. The model of Fig.19 (a) is for a duck vessel [46]. The mouth of the vessel is near the duck neck, it has an abnormal rim, medium neck, ovoid body, handles at the front end. It is decorated by engravings on the vessel body. The second model shown in Fig.19 (b) is for a decorated bowl from the 18 th dynasty [47]. The decoration was applied by painting by white and blue colors and takes geometrical shapes. The shapes are extensive and requires high technology to design, draw and apply with very accurate manner. The wonderful and high quality jar of the great Architecture Engineer Kha is shown in Fig.19 (c) [48]. It has a double conical body, long-wide neck, two vertical medium handles, flat medium base. The neck is decorated by scenes including the Horus eye and the top half of the body is decorated by geometrical shapes within vertical parallel bands with very accurate dimensions. The two handles are also decorated along their circumference. All the decorations are using the painting techniques with multiple colors.

(a) Duck vessel [46]

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(b) Decorated bowl [47]

(c) Decorated jar of Kha [48]

Fig.19 Duck vessel, decorated bowl and jar from the 18th dynasty. th

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19 dynasty: - A wonderful sample of a colored-pottery jar from the tomb of Sennedjem, the official of excavation and decoration of the royal tombs in the rein of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II is shown in Fig.20 [49]. The body is double conical, the neck is conical , the mouth is wide, the rim is round and the base is round. The decoration is performed by painting and covers completely the neck and partially the body. The neck decorations take the form of multi-colors bands and the body decorations take the shape of necklaces originated at the neck bottom boundary. It has 2 small handles at about 45 degrees from the horizontal direction. Another decorated model from the tomb of Sennedjem is shown in Fig.21 [50]. This model is similar to that in Fig.20 except its neck which is cylindrical and its handles which are nearly vertical. The neck cored decoration which has two bands similar to that on the body, new decoration patterns on the middle band on the neck and on the body. The wonderful aspect here is the colored painted decoration of the two models that still keeping their attraction and fixed colors over thousands of years. This illustrates how the chemical engineering knowledge of those people was highly sophisticated and persistent.

Fig.20 Colored jar of Sennedjem [49].

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Fig.21 Colored jar of Sennedjem [50]

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A third pottery model from the 19th dynasty is shown in Fig.22 (a) [51]. It was designed and produced as a funerary jar. It has a rough surface, conical body no neck, flat wide base and large round rim. It has a lid of output diameter matching the rim outside diameter and an inside diameter matching the jar moth. It is labeled in a colored vertical band with inscriptions of the dead person. A fourth model from the 19th dynasty is for double conical jar with lid shown in Fig. 22 (b) [52]. The lid is spherical and has an animal at its top to catch the lid from it. It is decorated on its body by different scenes through painting.

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(a) Funerary pottery jar [51]. (b) Double-conical jar with lid [52]. Fig.22 Funerary jars from 19th dynasty.

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A last pottery model from the 19th dynasty is shown in Fig.23 [53]. It has a conical body, no neck, no handles, round lip and flat base. The mouth diameter is slightly greater than the base diameter. It is has one color and decorated by an engraved lady head picture.

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Fig.23 Wide mouth jar from the 19th dynasty [53].

V. CONCLUSIONS The development of the pottery industry during the Egyptian Middle to New Kingdoms was investigated. Good improvement in pottery design and decoration was achieved during the New Kingdom. A unique multi-jars stand was designed in the 11th dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Polished royal pottery ware from the 12th dynasty were designed and produced having various shapes. Un-colored pottery decoration took place in the 12 th dynasty. A unique design for a spouted bowl by squeezing the bowl top edge was applied in the Second Intermediate Period. White pottery jars appeared in the 12th dynasty and the Second Intermediate Period. Black pottery jars appeared in the Second Intermediate Period. A duck-shaped design of a pottery vessel was applied in the 17 th dynasty. Internal and external decorations of some pottery ware using the scratching technique appeared in the Second Intermediate Period. In the New Kingdom, extensive decoration of pottery ware took place in the rein of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.

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The designed and produced long-necked vessels in the 18th dynasty with wonderful multi-colors paintings which could sustain the environmental effects for thousands of years up to now. They designed and produced vessels simulating birds and bowls of extensive muti-colors decoration in the 18th dynasty. Wonderful painted multi-colors jars appeared in the 19th dynasty in the Tomb of the high official Sennedjem with hands of different orientation. They used pottery jars with lids for funerary purposes with simple external decoration. REFERENCES

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BIOGRAPHY

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Galal Ali Hassaan Emeritus Professor of System Dynamics and Automatic Control. Has got his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University in 1970 and 1974. Has got his Ph.D. in 1979 from Bradford University, UK under the supervision of Late Prof. John Parnaby. Now with the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, EGYPT.

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Research on Automatic Control, Mechanical Vibrations , Mechanism Synthesis and History of Mechanical Engineering. Published more than 170 research papers in international journals and conferences. Author of books on Experimental Systems Control, Experimental Vibrations and Evolution of Mechanical Engineering. Chief Justice of the International Journal of Computer Techniques. Member of the Editorial Board of some international journals including the EPH Journal. Reviewer in some international journals. Scholars interested in the authors publications can visit: http://scholar.cu.edu.eg/galal

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wjert, 2016, Vol. 2, Issue 3, 01 -12

ISSN 2454-695X

World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology WJERT SJIF Impact Factor: 3.419

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Review Article

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IN ANCIENT EGYPT, PART XI:

PERIODS)

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Prof. Dr. Galal Ali Hassaan*

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POTTERY INDUSTRY (THIRD INTERMEDIATE AND LATE

Emeritus Professor, Department of Mechanical Design & Production, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt.

Article Revised on 16/03/2016

ABSTRACT *Corresponding Author Prof. Dr. Galal Ali

Article Accepted on 07/04/2016

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Article Received on 25/02/2016

This is the 11th research paper exploring the development of Mechanical Engineering in Ancient Egypt. The pottery industry

Emeritus Professor,

provided the ancient Egypt community with objects required for daily

Department of Mechanical

life since more than 6000 years ago. The pottery ware carry

Design & Production,

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Hassaan

information about the ancient Egypt people along the different ages.

Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt.

This is the third research paper exploring the development of the

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pottery industry in ancient Egypt during the Third Intermediate and the

Late Periods. The paper shows how the outstanding technological level of this industry in the New Kingdom is deteriorated during those periods. The characteristics of the pottery ware during those periods are presented by analyzing some pottery designs available in the

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literature.

KEYWORDS: History of mechanical engineering, ancient Egypt, pottery industry, Third

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Intermediate Period, Late Period. INTRODUCTION The ancient Egyptians used the River-Nile mud as a raw material to produce pottery ware required for their daily life and for funerary purposes. They could produce pottery ware either

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manually or using the potter's wheel. Their products appeared with very high mechanical technology in adjusting the dimensions, designing the product and decorating it. Their pottery

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products are filling the museums around the world indicating the sophistication and attraction

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of their pottery products.

Fay, 2000 analysed a largely unpublished ceramic material from Dakhla Oasis of Egypt. This

work covered a thousand years of Egyptian pottery from the eighth century BC to the late

second century AC. He studied the technical characteristics of the vessels to describe the ancient pottery practices.[1] Aston and Aston, 2003 investigated the Late Period Bes vases and

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attempted to produce a firm chronological typology for Egyptian Bes vases. They studied vessels from funerary contexts, town sites and cemetery sites.[2] Wodzinska, 2007 studied the

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pottery from the survey at Tell el-Retaba where most of recorded vessels were dated from the Late New kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period. She concluded that those vessels were either uncoated or had a white / pinkish slip with few red-slipped vessels found.[3] Rzepka et. Al., 2011 studied the results of the Polish-Slovak Archaeological Mission 2009-2010 in Tell el-Retaba 35 km west of Ismailiya. They displayed some findings of the mission including

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storing jars, ovens, industrial zone, pottery scraper, ceramic vessels from the Third Intermediate and Late Periods, cups from the Third Intermediate Period, large storing jars from Third Intermediate period and amphorae used as coffins for children.[4] Bealby, 2015

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reported about the Second Annual Birmingham Egyptology Symposium helt at the University of Birmingham on the 20th February 2015. She declared that a wide number of topics were presented in the symposium including finds such as pottery.[5] Hassaan, 2016 investigated the

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development of mechanical engineering in ancient Egypt through studying the pottery industry during the periods from Predynastic to the Old Kingdom[6] and from the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom.[7] He presented some of the pottery models from the studied periods clarifying their design characteristics and decoration technique (if decorated). Third Intermediate Period

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The Third Intermediate Period covers the 21st to the 25th dynasties.[8] Anna Wodzinska stated that pottery ware during this period was manufactured mostly using the potter's wheel except for course plates and bread trays which were manually produced.[9] We start presenting the

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pottery of the Third Intermediate Period by what is known as Bes vessel which appeared in this period. A model of Bes vessels from the 22nd dynasty is shown in Fig.1 which is in display in Petrie Museum of UK.[10] It has an ovaloid body, medium mouth, medium neck, flanged-rim and small flat base. It has one dark-orange color and its body is decorated by an

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engraved image for the ancient Egyptian deity, Bes.[11]

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Fig.1 Bes vessel from the 22nd dynasty.[10]

Another model of pottery jars is a tall jar from the 25th dynasty found in Thebes and displayed in Petrie Museum and shown in Fig. 2.[12] The body is cylindrical with slight shrinkage at the middle, the mouth is medium, there is no neck, the rim is round and the base

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is round. It has a dark-orange color without any decorations.

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Fig. 2 Pottery tall jar from the 25th dynasty.[12]

Four other samples of pottery ware from the 3rd Intermediate Egyptian Period are shown in Fig.3 where all of them are displayed in Petrie Museum.[10] There is variation in color, but all

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of them have unique color without any decoration. The bowl in (b) has four handles, the jar in (d) has two handles while the other jars in (a) and (c) most probably have no handles. The moth is large in design (a), medium in design (c) and small in design (d). The body is ovaloid

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in design (a), conical in designs (b) and (d) and round (spherical) in design (c). The base is

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small flat in designs (a), (b) and (d) and round in design (c). The rim is vertical in designs (b),

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(c) and (d) and flashing out in design (a).

Fig. 3 Pottery ware from the 3rd Intermediate Period.[10] Two more models of different designs are shown in Fig.4 which displayed in Petrie Museum.[11] The jar in (a) has a long neck while that in (b) has a short neck. The mouth is

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narrow in both designs. The handles are extremely large in design (a) and has a medium size in design (b). The body is round in both designs, The rim is large and flashing out in design (b) The base is a point in both designs. Both are not decorated. Color is light-salmon4 in

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design (a) and sandi-brown in (b).[12]

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Fig.4 Pottery jars from Gurob and Thebes.[11]

The latest model from the 3rd Intermediate Period (25th dynasty) is found in Tomb B at ElKhokha of Thebes. It is shown in Fig.5 which is a line diagram drawn by the authors.[13] It is a neckless jar with average mouth, ovaloid body, round rim and having two small handles

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near the rim. It is clear from the drawing that it is decorated horizontal circles and bands.

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Fig. 5 Pottery jar from the 25th dynasty.[13] Late Period

The Late Period of the Ancient Egyptian history covers the dynasties from 26 th to 31st.[14] No advancement is expected in the pottery industry during this period also. We will see through the examples presented of the pottery ware during this period if there is any development

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occurred. Fig. 5 (a) shows a pottery brown jar from the late period displayed in the Petrie Museum of UK.[15] It has a medium mouth, short neck, round rim, double conical bode and round base. The surface is rough and has no decorations and it has no handles. Another model of pottery orange jars of the late period is shown in Fig. 5 (b).[16] It has a narrow mouth, small

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neck, round rim, ovaloid body and a flat small base. It has no handles nor any decoration. Fig. 5 (c) shows a dark-brown bowl found at Suwa and belongs to the Late Period of ancient Egypt and displayed in Petrie Museum.[17] It has an open mouth (150% of its height), small

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decoration.

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flashing out neck, ovaloid body and flat base, The surfaces are polished and there is no

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(a) Brown jar.[15]

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(b) Orange jar.[16]

(c) Dark-brown bowl.[17]

Fig. 5 Two jars and a bowl from the Late Period.

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Another design of pottery bowls is shown in Fig.6 (a) which is found at Suwa of Egypt and located in Petrie Museum.[18] It has a vertical round rim, hemi-spherical body and medium

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flat base. There is no handles nor any decoration. A different design pottery jar is shown in

Fig.6 (b) which is found at Giza of Egypt and displayed in Petrie Museum.[19] It has a wide mouth of diameter little bit more than the body diameter, round flashing out rim, cylindrical

tall body, round base and two medium handles near the rim. It has no decorations and the

surface is rough. Another model of the tall jars from Giza also is shown in Fig.6 (c).[20] This

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tall jar is similar to that in Fig.6 (b) except its mouth which is medium (about 45% of its

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maximum body diameter, its body is semi-ovaloid and it has no handles.

(b) Tall jar with 2 handles.[19]

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(a) Light-brown bowl.[18]

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(c) Tall jar without Handles.[20] Fig.6 Bowl and tall jars from Late Period.

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Another pottery model of pottery jars from Qurna of Egypt is shown in Fig.7 (a) and

displayed in Petrie Museum.[21] It has a large round rim, double conical body, small flat base

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and no handles nor decorations. Another model is shown in Fig.7 (b) for a medium length jar from Defenneh of Egypt and displayed in Petrie Museum.[22] It has a medium mouth (about

40% of the maximum diameter), round short rim, un-symmetric double conical body, large

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flat base, two medium handles, no decoration and rough surface.

(a) Large rim jar.[21]

(b) Small rim jar.[22]

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Fig. 7 Large and small rim jars.

Models of pottery jars with different designs are shown in Fig.8. Fig.8 (a) is a line diagram for an decorated slender jar.[23] It has a medium mouth, neck of two levels one of them is swallowing and the other is almost straight. The body nearly ovaloid and the base is round. It has no handles. Another design is shown in Fig.8 (b) for a single handle undecorated jar.[24]

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It has a medium mouth, round-short rim, medium straight neck, ovaloid body and flatmedium base. Another jar model is shown in Fig.8 (c).[25] It has a wide mouth, round rim, short neck, ovaloid body and large-flat base. It has no handles and decorated by horizontal

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bands over about 50% of the body. It has 4 painted bands changing sequence with 3 parallel

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lines bands.

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(b) Single handed jar.[24]

(c) Decorated jar.[25]

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(a) Slender jar.[23]

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Fig.8 Jars with different designs from Late Period.

One more model of decorated pottery jars from the Late Kingdom is shown in Fig.9 (a).[26] It has a medium mouth, flat-inclined rim, small conical neck, semi-ovaloid body and round

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base. It has painted decorations on the top 40% of the body. There is plants decoration in the

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top decoration band near the neck. It has no handles.

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(a) Decorated jar with round base.[26]

(b) Pland decorated jar.[27]

Fig.9 Decorated handless-jars.

A pottery flask from the Late Period is shown in Fig.10 (a).[28] It has a small mouth, medium

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neck, round rim, cylindrical body with spherical ends and a point base. It has 2 medium handles between the neck and body. Another design of decorated pottery jars is shown in Fig.11.[29] It has a medium mouth, medium neck, round rim, semi-ovaloid body and small-flat base. One of the handles is decorated by dark-color bands and the top part of the body is

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decorated by 2 dark-color bands and intermediate band with probably plant scenes.

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Fig.10 Double handled pottery flask.[28]

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Fig.11 Decorated 2 handles jar.[29] The last models of pottery industry in the Late Egyptian Period is for bowls. Fig.12 (a) shows a decorated bowl.[30] It has a round rim flashed outside, a complex shaped body with conical

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nature in the middle and a medium ring base. It has no handles and decorated by 3 bands of a dark color near its top. Another model is shown in Fig.12 (b) which is a spouted bowl.[31] It has a round rim, semi-ovaloid body and a ring base. It has no handles and without any decorations. It has a small orifice feeding the spout and the spot top level is above the rim

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level.

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(a) Decorated bowl.[30]

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(b) Spouted bowl.[31]

Fig.12 Decorated and spouted bowls.

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CONCLUSION -

Development of the pottery industry during the Third Intermediate and the Late Periods

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of the Ancient Egyptian History was investigated.

The political weakness of Egypt in those periods was reflected on the development of the pottery industry.

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The pottery industry was deteriorated from its glory in the New Kingdom to a very low technological level.

What is called Bes vessels were appeared in the Third Intermediate Period. The image of

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Bes was inscribed on the vessel-body.

Pottery ware appeared in those two periods were classical in design except some changes in the body design.

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They designed jars without handles, with one handle and with two handles in those periods.

Most pottery bowls were without handles or spouts.

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Some pottery bowl designs with four handles and one spout appeared during those

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periods. -

Painting decoration of some pottery ware appeared in a very simple way compared to that

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in the New Kingdom. It covered the whole body, 50% of the body, 40% of the body, only the top part of the body and one handle or through bands near the body top. -

Design of a pottery flask took place during the Late Period with two handles between the

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neck and body. -

They designed tall jars with or without handles and without any decorations.

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They could produce pottery ware with plain brown, orange and dark-brown colors.

REFERENCES

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1. Patten, S. (2000), "Pottery from Late Period to the early Roman Period from Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt", Ph. D. Thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. 2. Aston, D. and Aston, B. (2003), "The dating of the Late Period Bes vases", Proceedings

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of the 1990 Pottery Symposium at the University of California, Berkely, 95-113. 3. Wodzinska, A. (2007), "Tell el-Retaba ceramic survey", Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, 19: 152-159.

4. Rzepka, S. et. Al. (2011), "New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period in Tell el-

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Retaba", International Journal for Egyptian Archaeology Related Disciplines, 21: 129-184.

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5. Bealby, M. (2015), "Report on Nationality, authority and individuality in ancient Egypt",

Second Annual Birmingham Egyptology Symposium, University of Birmingham, 20th

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6. Hassaan, G. A. (2016), "Mechanical engineering in ancient Egypt, Part IX: Pottery industry (Prydynastic to Old Kingdom)", International Journal of Engineering and Techniques (Under Publication).

7. Hassaan, G. A. (2016), "Mechanical engineering in ancient Egypt, Part X: Pottery

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industry (Middle to New Kingdoms)", International Journal of Science and Engineering

8. Wikipedia

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(Under Publication). "Third

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Egypt",

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9. Wodzinska, A. (2010) "A manual of Egyptian pottery, Volume 3: Second Intermediate Period – Late Period", Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Inc., 193. S.

(2014),

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10. Jones,

http://www.ceramicsartorscience.co.uk/EicBookUserFiles/Ceramics%20%20Art%20or%20Science%20-%20Dr.%20Stan%20Jones.pdf. 11. Wodzinsks (2010), Plates 9.1 and 9.2.

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12. Color Hex (2016), "Color names", www.color-hex.com/color-names.html. 13. Schreiber, G. and Vasaros, Z. (2005), "A Theban tomb of the Late Period at El-Khokha", Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hung, 56: 1-27. (2016),

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14. Wikipedia

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Egypt",

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Period_of_ancient_Egypt. 15. University

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static/ave/detail/details/index_no_login.php?objectid=UC__19269__&accesscheck=%2F museums-static%2Fave%2Fdetail%2Fdetails%2Findex.php. Egyptian

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16. Global

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www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=6488. 17. University

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static/ave/detail/details/index_no_login.php?objectid=UC__19279__&accesscheck=%2F museums-static%2Fave%2Fdetail%2Fdetails%2Findex.php.

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20. Wodzinsks (2010), Plates 12.3. 21. Wodzinsks (2010), Plates 14.1.

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22. Wodzinsks (2010), Plates 14.4. 23. Patten (2000), vol.II, Model CS15 14h. 24. Patten (2000), vol.II, Model CS5 2y. 25. Patten (2000), vol.II, Model CS2 2hh. 26. Patten (2000), vol.II, Model CS9 k.

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27. Patten (2000), vol.II, Model SS1 0e.