Linking waste and production. What a Roman waste pit from Syene/Upper Egypt reveals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32028/rcrf-acta-48-pp.207-216%20Keywords:
Roman Egypt , pottery studies , local production , material culture studies , cultural transferAbstract
In ancient times, the Upper Egyptian city of Syene formed an important link between Egypt and neighbouring Nubia to the south. As a border town, it served not only as a transhipment point for goods but also as a station for troops. Three cohorts are attested in inscriptions for the Roman imperial period, who certainly brought their own customs and traditions. This also increased foreign influence in the first cataract region. By analysing pottery finds from a waste pit from residential buildings in the urban area, an attempt is made to show cultural connections between a border region and the Mediterranean area. The discarded material consists almost exclusively of vessels from local pottery production, whose repertoire of forms clearly shows influences from Italy, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levantine region.
References
Amr, K., Akasheh, T. S. and Na’es, M. 2005. Recovery and Reproduction Technology of Nabataean Painted Fine Ware. 4th International Conference on Science and Technology in Archaeology and Conservation, Project CERAMED (2005), Available at: <https://www.cultech.net/sites/default/files/Amr.pdf> [Accessed 19 January 2023].
Ballet, P., Béguin, F., Lecuyot, G. and Schmitt, A. 2019. Tell el-Fara’în-Buto VI. Recherches sur les ateliers romains de Bouto. Prospections et sondages (2001-2006). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag.
Ballet, P., Lecuyot, G., Marmouard, G., Pithon, M. and Redon, B. 2011. Et la Bouto tardive? Le Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 111, 75-100.
Ballet, P., Lecuyot, G. and Simony, A. 2023. Bouto P20, The Levantine Ceramics Project, <https://www.levantineceramics.org/vessels/16146-bouto-p20> [Accessed 12 January 2023].
Bonifay, M. 2004. Études sur la céramique romaine tardive d’Afrique (BAR International Series 1301). Oxford, Archaeopress.
Ettlinger, E., Hedinger, B., Hoffmann, B., Kenrick, P. M., Pucci, G., Roth-Rubi, K., Schneider, G., von Schnurbein, S., Wells, C. M. and Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger, S. 1990. Conspectus Formarum Terrae Sigillatae Italico Modo Confectae. Bonn, Habelt.
Gempeler, R. 1992. Elephantine X. Die Keramik römischer bis früharabischer Zeit (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen 43). Mainz, von Zabern.
Hartung, U., Ballet, P., Béguin, F., Bourriau, J., Dixneuf, D., von den Driesch, A., French, P., Hartmann, R., Herbich, T., Kitagawa, C., Kopp, P., Lecuyot, G., Nenna, M.-D., Schmitt, A., Şenol, G. and Şenol, A. 2007. Tell el-Fara‘in – Buto. 9. Vorbericht. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 63, 69-165.
Hartung, U., Ballet, P., Béguin, F., Bourriau, J., French, P., Herbich, T., Kopp, P., Lecuyot, G. and Schmitt, A. 2003. Tell el-Fara’in - Buto. 8. Vorbericht. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 59, 199-267.
Hayes, J. 1967. Cypriot Sigillata. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 65-77.
Hayes, J. 1972. Late Roman Pottery. London, British School at Rome.
Hayes, J. 1985. Sigillate orientali. In V. Cappelletti and L. Anselmino (eds.), Atlante delle forme ceramiche II. Ceramica fine nel bacino mediterraneo (taro ellenismo e primo impero), 9-96. Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Istenič, J. and Schneider, G. 2000. Agean Cooking Ware in the Eastern Adriatic. Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta 36. Congressus vicesimus Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Ephesi et Pergami habitus MCMXCVIII, 341-348. Abingdon, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores.
Katzjäger, D. 2017. Spätantike Alltagskultur auf Elephantine, Oberägypten. Typochronologie, Funktion und kulturelle Diversität der keramischen Funde aus den Wohnhäusern um den Chnumtempel. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Universität Salzburg.
Ladstätter, S. 2007. Mode oder politisches Manifest? Überlegungen zur Übernahme römischen Formengutes in der frühkaiserzeitlichen Keramik von Ephesos. In M. Meyer (ed.), Neue Zeiten - Neue Sitten. Zu Rezeption und Integration römischen und italischen Kulturguts in Kleinasien, 203-219. Vienna, Phoibos.
Lochner, J. 1999. Topographie und Geschichte der Region am ersten Nilkatarakt in griechisch-römischer Zeit (Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete. Beiheft 5). Stuttgart, Teubner.
Martin-Kilcher, S. and Wininger, J. (eds.) (2017). Syene III. Untersuchungen zur römischen Keramik und weiteren Funden aus Syene/Assuan (1.-7. Jahrhundert AD). Grabungen 2001-2004 (Beiträge zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde 20). Gladbeck, PeWe.
McNally, S. and Schrunk, I. 2000. The Impact of Rome on the Egyptian Pottery Industry. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 37, 91-114.
Müller, W. 2010. Urbanism in Graeco-Roman Egypt. In M. Bietak, E. Czerny and I. Forstner-Müller (eds.), Cities and Urbanism in Ancient Egypt. Papers from a Workshop in November 2006 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut 35): 217-256. Vienna, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Peloschek, L. 2015. Cultural Transfers in Aswan (Upper Egypt). Petrographic Evidence for Ceramic Production and Exchange from the Ptolemaic to the Late Antique Period. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Rembart, L. 2020. Syene IV. Die ptolemäische und römische Keramik aus den Arealen 2 und 13c. Typochronologie und weiterführende Studien (Beiträge zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde 22). Gladbeck, PeWe.
Rembart, L. and Betina, L. 2021. On the Tracks of Aswan Pink Clay. New Studies on the Local Clay Deposits in the Region of Aswan/Upper Egypt. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural Sciences in Archaeology [e-journal] 12(1), 37-44. https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.1.3.
Rembart, L., Betina, L. and Katzjäger, D. 2020. Trade and Production in Upper Egypt. The Ceramic Production Centre in the Aswan Region and its Distribution. Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta 46. Congressus Tricesimus Primus Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Napocae Habitus MMXVIII, 585-590. Oxford, Archaeopress.
Rodziewicz, M. 2005. Elephantine 28. Early Roman Industries on Elephantine (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen 107). Mainz, von Zabern.
Schmid, S. 2000. Teil 1. Die Feinkeramik der Nabatäer. Typologie, Chronologie und kulturhistorische Hintergründe. In S. Schmid and B. Kolb (eds.), Petra - Ez Zantur II. Ergebnisse der Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinischen Ausgrabung, 1-201. Mainz, von Zabern.
Tomber, R. 2006. The Pottery. In D. P. S. Peacock and V. A. Maxfield (eds.), Survey and Excavation. Mons Claudianus, 1987-1993. Volume III. Ceramic Vessels & Related Objects (Fouilles de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire 54): 3-236, Cairo, Inst. Français d’Archéologie Orientale.
Tomber, R. 2007. Pottery from the Excavated Deposit. In D. P. S. Peacock and V. A. Maxfield (eds.), The Roman Imperial Quarries. Survey and Excavation at Mons Porphyrites 1994-1998. Volume 2: The Excavation, 177-208. London, Egypt Exploration Society.
