The examples shown here can be dated to the early Saite period; that is, the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, in the latter part of the seventh century. Key comparative sites include Tell el-Maskhuta, Mendes Stratum II, Migdol, the Twenty-fifth Dynasty tombs at Amarna, and Saite levels at Saqqara. In this period, bowls and jars are characterized by a red slip, which reflects the general tendency in this period towards the application of increasingly thick red slips (Walton 2011). This fabric is distinctive for his thick walls and abundant use of straw as a tempering material.
This fabric consists of a silty clay with a variety of sedimentary and igneous inclusions. The inclusions do not constitute a narrow suite of materials that point to a specific region, but their very diversity is an excellent indicator of provenience. All of the geological regions touched by the Nile are present in the fabric, including sandstones, mudstones, and igneous materials. Quartz, which best survives the weathering, is the most common mineral. This fabric is consistently accompanied by the heavy use of straw temper.