Nubian Ceramic Traditions on Elephantine Island, Egypt

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas: Recent Research and Methodological Advances" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The southern border of Egypt with Sudan (prehistoric Nubia) was always a culturally fluid area. As archaeological studies of the site of Elephantine Island have illustrated, there are features representing Egyptian and Nubian cultural affiliation. The pottery in particular can be of Nubian or Egyptian tradition suggesting that peoples of both groups might have lived together at the site. To clarify this, petrographic analysis was conducted on 35 sherds of Nubian pottery from Middle Kingdom layers at Elephantine Island. The focus was on fine-ware vessels and cooking pots. The former relates to long-standing fine-ware traditions in Nubia (C-Group and Pan-Grave types) and could reflect trade, while the latter may indicate Nubian populations living in Egypt. The results showed that most of the pottery was probably made in Egypt in the Aswan area. A few fine-ware vessels may have been made in Nubia. This confirms that people making pottery locally in the Nubian tradition were living in southern Egypt at this time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas: Recent Research and Methodological Advances   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38413.0