Abstract
This article reports on the use of laboratory analysis to examine whether pottery recovered from excavations at Abu Erteila includes wares made at the same workshops as pottery found at other Meroitic sites in the region. It also examines whether wares deemed typical of the Abu Erteila ceramic assemblage were made of the same raw materials as pottery at neighbouring sites or clay used at other workshops. Particular attention was paid to assessing whether samples with fabrics which macroscopically resemble the Musawwarat fabrics were indeed made at workshops in Musawwarat or whether this macroscopic similarity is deceptive.
Highlights
It is common knowledge that archaeological pottery constitutes a valuable source of information, serving as a chronological indicator and providing evidence for the existence of trade, technological developments and changes in socioeconomic structures
Most of the significant information contained within ceramic sherds can only be revealed by precise laboratory analyses
Laboratory analysis revealed the presence at Abu Erteila of pottery made from raw materials not previously noted at any other sites
Summary
It is common knowledge that archaeological pottery constitutes a valuable source of information, serving as a chronological indicator and providing evidence for the existence of trade, technological developments and changes in socioeconomic structures. It must be remembered that different macroscopically identified fabrics sometimes prove to have the same chemical, mineralogical and petrographic composition, which means that they must have been made using the same ceramic body This shows that macroscopically visible differences between individual fabrics are attributable to technological processes (e.g. firing temperature, firing atmosphere, firing time, or methods used to prepare the ceramic body). This type of situation is not problematic: the process of linking fabrics in one provenance group can be done without having to re-examine any samples. Problems are presented by the opposite situation, when, after analysing several samples
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