Macroscopic: Fine-grained irregular break with conspicuous inclusions in reddish and orange colour. Sporadically rounded quartz.
Petrographic: 10-18% inclusions, <1.58mm. Iron-rich to slightly kaolinitic clay matrix. Coarse fraction comprises primarily fragments of reddish-brown shale and kaolinitic clay pellets (yellowish-beige colour). Quartz dominates while plagioclase is commonly attested. Few chert and volcanic rock fragments (basalt). Increased amount of hornblende/amphibole, biotite and opaque particles. Rarely sandstone fragments and K-feldspar.
This fabric follows in its mineral and rock assemblage the one described as Aswan Pink/Kaolinitic/Silt but can be differentiated based on its considerably higher quantities of shale. This is a natural clay mixture originating from locations in the Aswan region (possibly to the NE of the modern town or the West Bank of the Nile) geologically associated to shale formations. It corresponds to Petrofabric “ASW-PC_02” described by Peloschek 2015, 104. Chronologically, this clay paste is only attested in archaeological contexts of late antique date on Elephantine Island (4th to 6th c. AD).
5th century - 8th century CE
Byzantine, Early Islamic - Umayyad/Abbasid/Tulunid
