Pottery Samples Recovered from Abu Erteila (Sudan) – Correlation of Macroscopically Identified Fabrics with Laboratory-Defined Raw Material Groups (original) (raw)

Mamluk and Early Ottoman Pottery from Ramla: Defining Local and Imported Fabrics. 'Atiqot 96, 2019

'Atiqot, 2019

A study of the ceramic assemblage dating from the Mamluk and early Ottoman periods, which was found in Stratum II of the excavation on Ha-Eẓel Street, Ramla. In this article the fabrics and forms of local and imported wares were explored to determine the geological source of the raw materials, in an attempt to pinpoint the production locales according to the geological source of the fabrics. It is hoped that this study will serve as a first step toward a reconstruction of the Ramla pottery industry in the Mamluk period. For the imports, the tracing of the fabric composition was based on previously published production centers. The research methods used in this study are not the traditional typological ones for classifying pottery from historical periods, but rather, a study of the fabric composition, a method similar to those used in studying protohistoric assemblages. Due to budget constraints, we could not perform petrographic thin-section analyses; rather, we employed an intermediate solution to distinguish between fabrics. All the selected vessels were examined by the naked eye and the fabric color was described according to the Munsell Soil Chart (2000). Fresh breaks of the sherds were examined under a binocular microscope at magnifications of ×20–×40. The findings were subsequently compared with former results of previous petrographic and petrological investigations for contemporary periods and fabrics. Although the highest possible degree of precision was used in this study, association of pottery types with particular fabric groups should be taken with caution considering the limitations of visual observation with a binocular microscope; nonetheless, this study offers a good starting point for further research. The study of the fabric composition of the Mamluk and early Ottoman-period ceramics from Ha-Ezel Street in Ramla indicates that at least three different local workshops produced pottery in Ramla and its vicinity during this time span. Among the imported wares, five inter-regional fabrics from Greater Syria and Egypt, five Mediterranean fabrics from Cyprus and Italy, and another four fabrics from distant, and thus far unrecognized regions, were identified.

The New Kingdom settlement of Amara West (Nubia, Sudan): mineralogical and chemical investigation of the ceramics

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2014

Forty-three pottery samples from the New Kingdom site at Amara West in Nubia (Sudan) were analysed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopyenergy dispersive X-ray spectrometry to identify pottery potentially produced at the site. Twenty-two samples from modern local alluvial soils, modern locally made pottery and archaeological material (mudbricks, daub, oven liners and kiln fragments), likely to have been made from locally sourced clays, were also studied. The analytically and microscopically defined pottery fabrics were cross-correlated with macroscopic fabrics defined on-site during fieldwork to demonstrate not only the potential and limitations of both approaches but also how the complementary datasets can provide new insights. The mineralogical and chemical analyses, of 65 samples, suggest that locally manufactured pottery included both Egyptian-style tableware and Nubian-style cooking pots. At the same time, the community at the site imported ceramics from a variety of different regions, including Egypt itself.

Composition and Technology of Pottery from Neolithic to Christian Periods from Jebel El-Ghaddar and from the Karima-Abu Hamed Region, Sudan.

Samples of Meroitic to Christian pottery from Jebel El-Ghaddar, near Old Dongola, and of pottery from the Nile's right bank between Karima and the 4th Cataract in Sudan, from Neolithic to Christian periods, were studied to get information on the areas of production and the technological changes during these periods. Chemical analysis, refiring series, thin section and technological studies of 51 samples in all yielded various groups of different raw materials and technology which can be correlated with regions, periods and archaeological pottery groups. The use of different plant material in the two regions as a temper for the domestic ware of the post-Meroitic period and the correlation of chemical groups with the sites where the pottery was found indicate local production. Traditions of pottery making can be seen between the Neolithic and Kerma periods in the Karima region. Another tradition is the use of Nile alluvium together with vegetable temper for pottery from the Kerma Culture horizon to the post-Meroitic period. Another raw material was used for utility ware from Meroitic to Christian periods, probably in local specialised workshops, with a tendency to a decline of technology during the post-Meroitic period.

Variability and continuity of ceramic manufacturing of prehistoric pottery from Upper Nubia, Sudan: An ethnographic comparison

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017

In Upper Nubia (currently northern Sudan), the art of making pottery has a very ancient and durable tradition, dating back to the early Holocene and preceding the introduction of a food-producing economy. Ethnographic case studies have demonstrated that this tradition has been preserved in many areas of the country. This paper presents a comparative study of ancient and modern traditional ceramics from four prehistoric sites at Sai Island, in the river Nile, and a present-day workshop located in the nearby village of Abri. The aim of the study was to investigate any diachronic changes in the selection of clayey raw material and the technological processes of the manufacturing sequence. The study combined macroscopic and analytical approaches and examined a large set of ceramic and local clay samples by means of petrographic (OM), mineralogical (X-ray powder diffraction; XRPD) and chemical (X-ray fluorescence; XRF) analyses. The resulting data underline a remarkable continuity in raw material sourcing and composition, as well as in many technological processes, from the ceramic assemblages dating from Abkan cultural horizon (c. 5500 BCE) until to the present-day production in Abri. This continuity emerged after a preceding discontinuity, indicated by a different selection of clay raw material and tempers in the oldest production dating to the Khartoum Variant horizon (c. 7600-4800 BCE). 'choices', selecting from a range of possible raw materials, tools, energy sources, and techniques. Thus each technological choice is co-dependent on other technological choices which go together to form a particular chaîne opératoire" (Sillar and Tite, 2000, 3, 5). Furthermore, according to Gosselain (2012, 246), the chaîne opératoire represents a "powerful analytical tool which imposes systematization in data collection, as well as the acknowledgement of a variety of elements that are invariably brought together in the conduct of technical activities". This study examined the technological aspects of prehistoric ceramics from Sai Island in Upper Nubia, currently northern Sudan, dating from the Early-Middle Holocene (Khartoum Variant; c.

Seventy Years of Pottery Studies in the Archaeology of Mesolithic and Neolithic Sudan

African Archaeological Review, 2021

This review article examines seventy years of research and methodological approaches to the analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic pottery in Sudan. It begins with the studies done by A. J. Arkell at the end of the 1940s, leading to the definition of the Khartoum Mesolithic and Khartoum Neolithic ceramic traditions. The article then discusses the application of the concepts of ware, fabric, decorative technique, and chaîne opératoire to the analysis of pottery and the use of new classification tools and archaeometric methodologies. The implication of the concepts of cultural encounter and the communicative role of material culture for ceramic studies and the insights that ceramics can provide for understanding the interrelationships between humans and the landscape are also discussed.

RAW MATERIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES IN CERAMIC PRODUCTIONS AT SAI ISLAND, NORTHERN SUDAN, FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM BC

Archaeometry 57, 4 (2015) 597–616, 2015

This study presents the results of integrated mineralogical, petrographic and chemical analyses of different ceramic assemblages and local sediments from Sai Island, northern Sudan, dating to between the seventh and the third millennium BC, and highlights a significant variability in the raw materials and technology of these productions. Although archaeometric analyses of ceramics are widely employed in many parts of the world, a lamentable scientific gap exists for African pottery, which this paper aims to bridge with new and compelling results.

Discriminating pottery production by image analysis: a case study of Mesolithic and Neolithic pottery from Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan)

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2014

Pottery from Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan), where a number of sites with well-preserved stratified archaeological sequences have been excavated and radiometrically dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (7000e4000 calibrated BC), was archaeometrically analysed with the main aim of quantifying the textural parameters of the inclusions in the ceramic pastes. A set of 360 samples was studied, and quantitative and qualitative information was obtained regarding paste production recipes and the raw materials used over time.