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Pottery Production
(Bourriau/Nicholson/Rose 2000)
UC 15706

 

   
choosing the material
Raw material: clays:  
Nile silt (any clay that has been deposited by the river between Upper Pleistocene and the present) Nile silt can be divided into 6 groups
marl (originating from shales and limestone found along the river between Esna and Cairo) Marl can be divided into 5 Groups
levigation (only occasionally)
   

trampling the clay

   
shaping the pot
 

handmade ("pinching and hollowing")

from the beginning (4500 BC)

handmade using a tool

since Naqada II (3500 BC)

shaping over a core (patrix)

since Early Dynastic Egypt (3000 BC)

pressing clay in a mould

since 17th Dynasty (1650 BC)

handmade by ring building ('coiling')

 

pottery wheel

since Fifth Dynasty (2400 BC)
drying in Sun
   
applying a slip (and painting)

applying a slip to the vessel

 
firing
open fire (maximum temperature: 860 C)  
firing in a kiln (temperature: 1000 C and higher, better control over temperature)

four main types of kilns


 

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