Pottery from the Survey in 2022 at the Gebel el-Nur Archaeological Site in Middle Egypt: Dating and Planigraphy

Abstract

The article analyzes the ceramic material discovered in 2022 during the survey of the settlement and necropolis of Gebel el-Nour (Beni Suef governorate, Middle Egypt) by the Russian-Egyptian archaeological expedition (Institute of Oriental Studies RAS – Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt). Pottery fragments belong to the household group – tableware and kitchen utensils; they are dated to the Ptolemaic (332–30 BC) and Roman Periods (30 BC to 395 AD), mostly to the 1st–2nd centuries AD. Numerous analogies for the Gebel el-Nour pottery come from Memphite and Theban regions, but mostly from Middle Egypt, including Graeco-Roman cities of the Fayum Oasis. Technological features of the pottery from Gebel el-Nour indicate that the ancient population used mainly the products of local pottery workshops, but imported ceramics were also found, for example, a bowl with “barbotine” decoration from Aswan and an amphora for olive oil from Leptis Magna (Libya). Kitchen and table utensils from Gebel el-Nour demonstrate the Hellenization of pottery and similarity not only with the ceramic types synchronous with it from other Egyptian regions, but also with pottery from Asia Minor and Magna Graecia. In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, the original Egyptian types of tableware and kitchen utensils practically disappear, while everywhere there is a replacement for Hellenizated shapes. Thus, Egypt as a whole and Gebel el-Nour in particular organically fit into the Hellenic world both at the level of nobility and ordinary population. This process was extended in time and prepared by earlier changes in Egyptian material culture.