Making pottery in the Nile Delta: ceramic provenance and technology at Naukratis, 6th–3rd centuries BC

Spataro, Michela; Mommsen, Hans; Villing, Alexandra

doi:10.1007/s12520-017-0584-4

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…These can provide a direct influx of carbonate material and thus a more natural mixture. As pointed out by other authors as well (Riederer 1989Spataro et al 2018), this data would also support the observation of a more carbonate enriched Nile silt material in the vicinity of Saqqara. This additionally has the potential to be a good marker for provenancing.…”

Section: A Comparison To Egyptian Clay Raw Materialssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The attested variability within the assemblage however, signifies the absence of a dedicated preparation of the clay bed utilized for ceramic production but might also incorporate different local varieties of Nile silt from the Saqqara floodplain. However, as noted by Riederer (1989), , and more recently also discussed by Spataro et al (2018), Old Kingdom Nile silt pottery at Dashur and Saqqara have been characterized by a high calcium carbonate content, which seems to be replicated here as well. Interestingly, contrary to those from Amarna, marl deposits from Saqqara are significantly enriched in rubidium, and the modern mixed ceramics from Cairo are heavily influenced by calcium carbonates.…”

Section: A Comparison To Egyptian Clay Raw Materialssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Although provenancing clearly requires scientific analyses, these are still rarely applied in Egyptian pottery studies (Schiestl & Seiler, 2012a). The available targeted geochemical provenance studies on Egyptian objects and clay mineral resources treat various areas and periods and highlight the difficulty in sourcing these materials (Spataro et al 2018). An increasing amount of studies succeed in determining an exact provenance of a ceramic assemblage in Egypt, especially when analyzing the output of a local production center (Allen et al, 1989;Hamroush & Zeid, 1990;Ballet & Picon, 1990).…”

Section: Clay Raw Materials and Egyptian Ceramic Provenance Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Braekmans

Boschloos

Hameeuw

et al. 2019

Microchemical Journal

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A collection of Prime Cultural Heritage artefacts consisting of Egyptian late Middle Kingdom figurines (c. 1850-1700 BCE), made of unfired clay and covered in inscriptions, is kept at the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) in Brussels, Belgium. Several of these hieratic inscriptions curse enemies of the Egyptian state, including Canaanite, Nubian and Libyan entities; thus providing invaluable information for Middle Bronze topography in ancient Near Eastern studies. What makes the extensive Brussels group even more exceptional, is the fact that these figurines were discovered in a closed archaeological context in Saqqara, Lower Egypt. Defining and classifying clay and ancient ceramic provenance groups in Egypt is highly complex due to variability in Nile and marl clay deposits. Chemical characterization of this figurine assemblage (n=91) allows to effectively study the potential direct use of clays in the vicinity of Saqqara and characterize the nature of the raw materials used. Additionally, it aims to assess the validity of portable XRF spectrometry for this type of materials and its provenance resolution. Analyses show that very similar clays were used to produce the different morphological types of figurines in the assemblage. The chemical profile indicates the use of a mixed source at Saqqara rather than pure marl or Nile clays, which are common for ancient pottery production.

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Section: A Comparison To Egyptian Clay Raw Materialssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: A Comparison To Egyptian Clay Raw Materialssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Clay Raw Materials and Egyptian Ceramic Provenance Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Braekmans

Boschloos

Hameeuw

et al. 2019

Microchemical Journal

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“…In a very recent paper by Spataro et al . (), a single Sm concentration seems to have gone astray (Table (c)). The material reported was relatively homogeneous (±10%) for all REEs reported.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Justification for reassessing elemental analysis data of ceramics, sediments and lithics using rare earth element concentrations and ratios

et al. 2019

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The mensuration of multi-elemental concentrations from assorted archaeological materials has always required great care and attention to detail to ensure good-quality data and their ensuing interpretations. Although most suspect data were generated before the wide use of computers, error-free data are not still a certainty. This paper presents the geochemical rationale for a proposed chemical data-assessment process, using a globally dispersed collection of ceramic, sediment and lithic data. It is argued that this process can allow archaeologists and archaeometrists to investigate systematically older and current data sets and, if need be, alter them to the reliable values they were originally intended to include.

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“…The pottery products and ceramics fragments are valuable archeological objects, which are found in most archeological excavations, and can serve as an indicator of evolution of various cultural or ethnic groups of any historical periods (Peacock, 1970; Spataro & Villing, 2015). The large numbers of ancient ceramics fragments are excellent markers (Tsetlin, 2017) for a reconstruction of the futures of an everyday life of ancient communities or settlements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The systematic structural studies of some Byzantine ceramic fragments from Dobrudja region of Romania: Raman spectroscopy, neutron diffraction, and imaging data

Zhomartova,

Abdurakhimov,

Talmațchi

et al. 2024

Archaeometry

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The systematic studies of composition and spatial distribution of main phases inside volume of 25 fragments of Byzantine ceramic obtained in archeological works in the Dobrudja region, Romania, have been performed using neutron diffraction and tomography, and Raman spectroscopy. The obtained structural data on the content of phases, the presence of calcite grains and pores, and the uniformity of phase spatial distribution made it possible to systematize the studied fragments and correlate them with clay sources or pottery workshop. The experimental possibilities of neutron methods of nondestructive structural diagnostics as well as the structural markers provided by them in the studies of ceramic samples are discussed.

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Making pottery in the Nile Delta: ceramic provenance and technology at Naukratis, 6th–3rd centuries BC

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Tracing the provenance of unfired ancient Egyptian clay figurines from Saqqara through non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Justification for reassessing elemental analysis data of ceramics, sediments and lithics using rare earth element concentrations and ratios

The systematic structural studies of some Byzantine ceramic fragments from Dobrudja region of Romania: Raman spectroscopy, neutron diffraction, and imaging data

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