Nile clay is NOT a single petro-fabric. Nile clay is a ubiquitous and readily available clay source throughout Egypt along the Nile Valley and Delta. This ceramic raw material was utilized throughout Egyptian history from the Predynastic to modern times for a range of vessel forms and types. Common especially for utilitarian ceramics such as beer jars, bread moulds, and cooking pots. Fairly easy to identify macroscopically and petrographically through it has some variability. The principal challenge with classifying Nile clay specifically is its ubiquity and similarity over a broad area. Past chemical studies have shown some elemental differences at a large scale of tens of kilometers. There may be petrographic differences as well wit...
Identified by the iron-rich clay with very common silty grains, predominantly quartz but also potassium feldspar, microcline, plagioclase, iron oxides, and opaques. Can have high amounts of muscovite and biotite, while pyroxene, and amphibole can be low and will vary. Rare other minerals (zircon, zoisite, tourmaline, sphene, and rutile) and rare rock fragments (mostly volcanic, but some sedimentary [chert, limestone], and metamorphic) are present. Grains are typically angular to subrounded. Varies from only fine-sized inclusions up to a mix of fine to medium-sized inclusions. Rare incidental small-sized (1mm) plant remains can occur.
Intentional addition (temper) of sand (grain size term) is identified by round, medium to course sized grains of quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase, and rarely polycrystalline quartz (quartzite), chert, pyroxene, and amphibole. Amount varies and can appear bimodal.Firing differences can be challenging to determine, but in general at high temperatures the clay becomes dark and optically inactive, at lower temperatures it is more optically active. Such petrographic determinations of firing temperature suggest a common range between 750°C to 850°C. Variation by form for firing temperature occurs in only a few specific cases (i.e., storage containers at lower temperatures, some fine ware at higher temperatures).
Nile clay is NOT a single petro-fabric. Nile clay is a ubiquitous and readily available clay source throughout Egypt along the Nile Valley and Delta. This ceramic raw material was utilized throughout Egyptian history from the Predynastic to modern times for a range of vessel forms and types. Common especially for utilitarian ceramics such as beer jars, bread moulds, and cooking pots. Fairly easy to identify macroscopically and petrographically through it has some variability. The principal...
4th-8th century CE
Byzantine, Early Islamic - Umayyad/Abbasid/Tulunid
5th century - 8th century CE
Byzantine, Early Islamic - Umayyad/Abbasid/Tulunid
Abu Midrik (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Abu Rahal, Abu Rahal Hill (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Abu Rahal West (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Al-Qarah al-Hamra (Egypt/Fayoum)
Aswan, Elephantine (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Aswan, Syene (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
B'ir Samut (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Dunqash (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Naukratis (Egypt/Delta/Lower Egypt)
Rawd al-Buram (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Rawd al-Liqah (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Sayriq (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Tell el-Fara'in (Egypt/Delta/Lower Egypt)
Umm Garahish East (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
al-Kanaïs (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
‘Abbad, Abu Gehâd (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
This description was compiled during the LCP Egyptian Ceramic Petrography workshop at IFAO in September 2017.