Byzantine-early Islamic Nile Silt Cooking ware
Egypt/Upper Egypt
5th century - 8th century CE
Byzantine, Early Islamic - Umayyad/Abbasid/Tulunid
General Information
This ware mainly includes casseroles and cooking pots which exhibit charring on their exterior. The exterior wall is also often grooved. The shape and use traces on the vessels clearly identify this group as a cooking ware. Several shapes are reminiscent of vessels from the Roman period and appear to refer back to older traditions.
The fabric appears to have been of minor importance because the late antique material from Elephantine does not exhibit a typical clay recipe that was only used for cooking wares. However, Nile clay was the favored clay paste.
A characteristic of this cooking ware is the frequent bichrome color of the sherd that is the result of fluctuations in the firing temperature, interruptions during the firing process, or organic inclusions. The relatively thin walls and the often ribbed exterior wall stand out. All vessels exhibit a thin, rough slip that usually has a red-orange to brown color similar to the break.The exterior of some vessels is painted or decorated with a plastic ledge.
Aswan, Elephantine (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
