VI.2 Egypt: The Ceramic Laboratory of the Ifao
p. 125-131
Texte intégral
1The approach adopted since the creation of the laboratory of ceramic studies at the Ifao has always been to characterise the regional groups. It could be useful to provide an update regarding the question of the production sites published to date from the Predynastic to the Arab period. The result is disappointing. The archaeological inventory presents important regional and chronological disparities and gaps (Marchand 2014; Arnold et al. 2018, pp.220-224; Marchand et al. 2018; Barahona-Mendieta et al. 2019). In the absence of a sufficient number of preserved workshops, research on regional ceramic groups, for all periods, is therefore essentially based on the study of archaeological material from consumption sites.
Diachronic Survey through the Regional Ceramic Groups of Egypt
2The criteria for the analysis of regional ceramic groups are of course set in historical, economic and cultural contexts that have changed considerably in Egypt throughout its long history. The richness as well as the diversity of Egyptian regional cultures, from Prehistoric times to the medieval period, have become obvious in recent years for the ceramic studies. Structuring the documentation at our disposal, site by site, region by region, about this question, is an undertaking that must be attempted, while keeping in mind the necessarily partial and evolving character of such an approach.
The Ceramic Laboratory of the Ifao
The Editorial Policy of the Ceramic Laboratory
Since its creation, the ceramic laboratory has been involved in the Ifao’s publishing policy for its discipline through the publication of both the Cahiers de la Céramique Égyptienne (CCE) collection and the Bulletin de liaison de la Céramique Égyptienne (BCE) journal. Both of these works are reference tools for all ceramic specialists, but equally for archaeologists and historians. The BCE is the only periodical entirely devoted to Egyptian ceramics. It presents the latest in ceramic research, in an archaeological context following a “regional route” in Egypt and Nubia for all periods of their History, from the Neolithic to the medieval and modern periods. Each volume also includes a second part entitled “Studies” the themes of which are broadly open to all questions concerning ceramics.
■ https://www.ifao.egnet.net/publications/catalogue/BCE/
■ https://www.ifao.egnet.net/publications/catalogue/CCE/
The “Céramothèque” and the Specialised Research Library
This project is part of a coherent approach and the result of decades of knowledge accumulated in the ceramic laboratory of the Ifao supporting the study of the material culture of the ancient societies of the Eastern, Mediterranean and Nubian world. As a privileged ally for all archaeological and historical research, it became a must to create a new tool in Egypt devoted to Egyptian ceramic studies for the scientific community, archaeologists, ceramic specialists, historians and students. The “céramothèque” at the Ifao, the implementation of which began in 2018, is associated with a specialised library on ceramics. These tools are intended to be spaces open to the public. The “céramothèque” offers a collection of references of Egyptian and imported ceramic potsherds dated from the Neolithic to the medieval and modern periods. The creation of a reference system for Egyptian clays, the raw material for ceramic vases, is also being considered in collaboration with our geological partners.
■ https://www.ifao.egnet.net/recherche/services-archeologiques/ceramologie/
■ https://www.ifao.egnet.net/recherche/operations/op17452/
■ https://www.ifao.egnet.net/recherche/operations/op17222/
Figure 70. Cahiers de la céramique égyptienne (CCE) / Bulletin de liaison de la céramique égyptienne (BCE)

3The regions that make up Egypt are strongly marked and differentiated on a cultural and historical level since the earliest times. The consideration on the recognition of ceramics as a marker of belonging to a regional entity is one of the keys to understanding Egyptian ceramics.
4It is obvious that the study of regional ceramic groups for the ancient periods, from the Neolithic to the Predynastic, cannot be conceived outside their affiliations to cultural units determined by their way of life and their material culture.
5For the Pharaonic period, which falls within the frame of the 30 Manetho’s dynasties, the existence of distinct cultural units did not always have a place within the Pharaonic civilisation. Its culture is forcefully expressed in its prestigious monuments, tombs, divine or funerary temples, which line the Nile Valley and the deserts, with texts and iconography contributing greatly to this feeling of an unchanging Egypt. Such historical vision emanates from the whole of the Pharaonic culture, that of a centralised state stemming from the Nile, with its writing, its Pharaoh, its gods, its temples and its rites. It appeared as early as the 4th millennium bc and disappeared at the end of the 4th century ad with the last known inscriptions from the island of Philae, which marked the end of the old Egyptian paganism. This somewhat fixed vision of the Pharaonic civilisation does not, however, reflect the richness and diversity of Egyptian regional ceramic cultures, not only during the ancient periods from the Neolithic to the Predynastic prior to unification, but also for the historical periods, in times of turmoil as well as stability, from the Pharaonic to the medieval period.
6The evolution of ceramic studies in recent decades shows the growing interest in the characterisation of local and regional ceramic facies, the recognition of inter-regional exchanges, and the contribution of ceramics to cultural and economic history. The difficulty lies in the disparity and inequality of the archaeological documentation according to periods and regions. However, the importance of using a new reading grid for the ceramic material is now clear, comparing the regional groups placed in a double perspective, both synchronically within the framework of the regions that make up Egypt during the same period, and in a diachronic perspective. This approach highlights the relationships between production, distribution and consumption, but also the definition of a “regional style” and the influence of one regional group on another at a given moment in history. Foreign influences on Egyptian ceramics, exchanges, acculturation and imitations, which are fundamental phenomena that run through the whole of history and are widely debated elsewhere cannot be forgotten, of course (Defernez, Marchand 2016; Marchand 2019).
7The history of Egyptian material culture, including ceramic developments, is a fairly accurate echo chamber of political changes (Bourriau 2000). It remains clear that a dynastic change, no matter how great it is, obviously has no immediate impact on the formal catalogue of basic domestic ceramics. During the three great Empires—Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom—during which the ceramic repertoires of the main regions of the Nile Valley, and of the desert oases, used a common vocabulary for the majority of the categories of vessels, the dominant style was often initiated by the region of the central political power with its royal workshops. This fact does not exclude regional particularities in the formal, decorative and technical repertoire. For example, in the Middle Kingdom, from the 11th to the 12th Dynasties, a wide range of vessels with specific shapes and incised decorations was created, linked to the use of calcareous clays from the Theban region which is unknown on the sites of Lower Egypt, and, for some sites in the Aswan region, decorations and shapes were clearly inspired by the Nubian tradition.
8These Empires are interrupted by three so-called Intermediate periods. These are transitional periods, sometimes extending over several centuries which punctuate the long Egyptian chronology. We then witness a strong diversity, and observe a vivacity of regional ceramic groups. For these periods, a geography of ceramic cultures and the constitution of regional groups can be proposed with a certain degree of confidence based on the analysis of ceramics from numerous sites and recent publications. A division between the north and south of the territory is immediately obvious. The ceramic facies of the First Intermediate Period in the Nile Valley have been re-examined, and the work in the Dakhla and Bahariya oases completes our knowledge on this period. The Second Intermediate Period is a period of political and territorial divisions, during which nine regional ceramic groups are distinguished: the Eastern Delta, the Memphite region and the Fayum, Middle Egypt, the Theban region, Elephantine, the small oasis of Bahariya and “the” large oasis of the southern Western Desert including those of Dakhla and Kharga. The data on regional facies from the Third Intermediate Period are, without doubt, the most complex to analyse. From the 25th Dynasty onwards, we notice a renewal with specific containers in “Qena-Ware”/ Marl A originating from the Theban region. The common ceramics are still very close to the ceramic models of the Third Intermediate Period, which is characterised by forms and surface treatments of the beginning of this period and likely inherited from the end of the Ramesside period.
9During the periods of unity, the centralisation of power also seems to set the tone for the realisation of a common style such as that of the New Kingdom, the origin of which is to be sought in the Memphite region and in the Fayum. This “New Kingdom” style is remarkable in its forms and painted—sometimes polychrome—decorations (fig. 71) which spread over the whole Egyptian region and were even adopted outside its historical territory, as in Nubia. New Kingdom ceramics, as was the case during Nagada II, are once again becoming a true vector of art for a significant part of their production, which will never be the case again. This trend does not exclude the existence of regional ceramic particularisms during this period, for example in regions far from the Nile valley, as in the oasis of Dakhla, with the existence of some categories of typical local ceramics including amphorae which were widely distributed in the Theban region. This has been the case for these oasis territories throughout most of their history. They had always formed a separate regional ceramic group with specific ceramic categories that were not produced in the Nile Valley.
Figure 71. Bes Jar, Blue Painted Pottery, New Kingdom

Front cover of Hope 2001.
10The Late Period, with the Saite 26th Dynasty, inaugurates the last period of a unified state in Egyptian history. The ceramic industry continues the ceramic tradition that had debuted during the 25th Dynasty, which is why the distinction between these two periods can be difficult to determine. The Persian period, during the 27th Dynasty, begins to stand out from the old “Third Intermediate Period” facies, with the contribution of new techniques and new decorative effects. Only at the end of this period do we start to witness an important renewal of forms. Throughout the Late Period, the mark of regional ceramic groups is more clearly identified than before in the formal repertoire and in the specific use of certain clays, such as the calcareous clays of the Theban region as well as a division between the north and the south is highlighted. The real turning point in the ceramic facies took place, in my opinion, at the beginning of the 4th century bc with the 28th Dynasty. This change is especially visible at Kharga with an evolution of the existing forms, but above all it inaugurates the creation of a rich repertoire of painted decorations (fig. 72). The Kharga oasis was influenced by the decorative style of the Theban region. These forms and decorations, inaugurated during the last indigenous dynasties, persist unchanged throughout the following period, during the Ptolemaic period at least until the 3rd century bc, in southern Egypt (Marchand 2013).
Figure 72. ‘Ayn-Manâwir, Kharga oase

Local productions, black painted on white slip. Late Period, 4th century BC.
© Ifao.
11The local Hellenistic ceramics of the late 4th to 3rd century bc illustrate a privileged moment in Egyptian material culture. This was a transitional phase during which a new local ceramic tradition was established. It gradually replaced the Pharaonic tradition inherited from the last indigenous dynasties, which was strongly influenced by its regional cultures (Marchand 2013). A new formal, functional, decorative and technical repertoire was then created, largely inspired by the Greek ceramic repertoire (figs. 73-74). It evolved rapidly in the second half of the 3rd century bc to give rise to a “classical” Egyptian repertoire with its ceramic productions of the 2nd century bc integrated into the standard of Hellenistic Mediterranean repertoire (Marchand 2013; Defernez, Marchand 2016).
Figure 73. Egyptian tableware in Marl clay, painted black and red on a light background

Greek-inspired decorative repertoire: floral, animal (swans), geometric and erotic (polychrome painted decoration after firing on a stuccoed white, green, yellow, black and pink background). Ptolemaic period, mid 3rd century- 2nd century BC.
© J.Fr. Gout Ifao/university of Milan.
Figure 74. Detail of a scene from the tomb of Petosiris at Hermopolis/Touna el-Gebel dated to the end of the 4th century BC

Putting wine in Egyptian amphorae of Greek tradition and in Egyptian “torpedo” of Syro-Palestinian tradition
(from Cherpion et al. 2007, p. 56).
12The transition to the Roman period was gradual, with the introduction of new forms and techniques, and the boundary between the Ptolemaic and Roman periods was not so strict. It is from the 2nd century ad onwards that a clear change begins with the renewal of the typology of many vessel classes. The period of the 3rd century ad, which is well known thanks to papyrological documentation, is difficult to identify in the Egyptian ceramic literature of the Nile Valley.
13With Christian Egypt, integrated into the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire in the 4th century ad, the past was swept away. The repertoire of tableware, amphorae and many common ceramics was renewed. The end of the period, from the end of the 6th century ad and during the first half of the 7th century ad, is well documented in the archaeological records, and its facies merges with the first century of the Arab period, which is conveniently called the proto-Islamic period.
14During the first two centuries after the Arab conquest, and at least until the beginning of the 10th century ad, Egyptian ceramics, with the terra sigillata from Aswan, were still very close to the Roman-Byzantine world in their forms and techniques. However, in the early 9th century, we witness the birth of “Islamic ceramics” marked by oriental trends and other new influences. This ceramic, with its new techniques (glazed ceramics), and its forms has nothing to do with the old Romano-Byzantine traditions.
15The period from the Mamluk to the Ottoman period is probably the least documented. However, thanks to the, albeit few, excavations scattered over the area, we can come closer to the richness and diversity of regional and micro-regional ceramic cultures throughout these periods, especially in the Kharga oasis. The ceramic facies is characterised by numerous regional groups that combine wheel-made and hand-made productions, sometimes decorated for domestic and specialised ceramics. Products from the Nile Valley are abundant on the sites of these periods, notably with the imports of glazed ceramic serving ware.
Auteur
Head of Ceramic Laboratory of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale, Cairo, Egypt.

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