Upper Egyptian Marl Common ware
Egypt/Upper Egypt
6th century BCE - 1st century CE
Late Period, Hellenistic/Ptolemaic, Roman
General Information
Upper Egyptian Marl Common ware is made from calcareous clay native to Upper Egypt and its eastern desert (Herbert and Berlin 2003, 27). This was an all purpose ware that potters used for almost every form—from tablewares to kraters, various types of cooking pots, stands, basins, and jars. Vessels are common at sites at Upper Egypt and are known in smaller quantities at sites in Lower Egypt.
At Coptos, it was identified as "Light red marl" and first appears in the late 4th century BCE, in the earliest Hellenistic assemblages. Vessels of red marl continue to occur in Roman levels, though the proportion of this ware to others is significantly lower in the later periods.
The Theban region, and particularly Medamud, is certainly a major production center of these ceramics. That is why this category has been named "Theban marl clay" at Karnak (David et al. 2016). Various variants should be distinguished at least for the amphorae on one side and for the tableware on the other side.
In Syene the earliest fragments are from the Late Period.
Upper Egyptian Marl Common ware is a hard, very gritty and slightly micaceous ware, fired from light brownish pink to dark red. It is coarse with many rounded and subrounded moderate sized black, grey, brown, and angular white particles, large fragments of chaff, and many angular voids. Potters occasionally applied a white slip (perhaps a salt wash?) to vessel surfaces. Full firing is rare; there is almost always a wide light grey core.
Abu Rahal, Abu Rahal Hill (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Abu Rahal West (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Aswan, Syene (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
B'ir Samut (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Coptos (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Dunqash (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Luxor/Karnak, Temple of Ptah (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Luxor/Karnak, Treasure of Chabaka (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Luxor/Thebes West, Temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep II (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Luxor/Thebes West, Tomb 32 (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Medamud (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Mons Porphyrites (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Rawd al-Buram (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Rawd al-Gamra (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Samut Gold Mining Settlement (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Sayriq (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
Umm Garahish East (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
‘Abbad, Abu Gehâd (Egypt/Eastern desert/Red Sea Coast)
