General Information

Dakhleh Oasis Cooking Ware was a coarse ware that was made from ferruginous clay from the Dakhla Oasis. The fabric that potters used to form this ware was the most common fabric in the Dakhla oasis throughout all historical periods, and it was used for a range of shapes. Cooking bowls, plates, casseroles, and globular pots were the most common. Parallels have been found at sites throughout Egypt, like Mons Claudianus, Elephantine, and Dime es-Seba from the first to the seventh century CE.

The exterior surface of this ware ia usually covered with a thin layer of dark red slip, which is often hidden by heavy black soot. During firing that red slip may tend to become gray, and the pot and casserole forms are those that are usually entirely covered by soot. The coarse ferruginous clay used to produce this ware is certainly local to the Dakhla Oasis, and excavations at Amheida prove that the ware was produced locally. 

Amheida (Egypt/Western desert)