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‘Clay of Wisdom’: Archaeological Approaches to the Study of the Medieval Egyptian Landscape
Abstract
Ceramic finds are frequently the most ubiquitous of artifacts found at sites of human occupation. As a result, ceramic sequences are used as tools for identifying chronological periods and tracing cultural history in landscape surveys. Ceramics have been crucial in the identification of settlements which date from the early Islamic to Ottoman periods in the Near East. While nearly all the survey methods and resources available in the Near East are also available in Egypt, the same amount of archaeological investigation has not been devoted to medieval Egyptian landscapes. Urban centers like Cairo continue to receive most of the attention in studies of medieval Egypt. Until recently, Egypt has suffered from a complete lack of studies which focus on utilitarian ceramics from the medieval period, especially in rural or provincial areas, which may reflect different traditions from those of Cairo and the Nile Delta. Joint excavations in Aswan, Egypt by the Ministry of State of Antiquities and the Swiss Institute for Architectural and Archaeological Research in Cairo have produced stratified contexts which enable quantified studies of everyday domestic ceramics from medieval Aswan. This corpus of ceramics is highly distinctive and was exported in significant quantities to sites along the Nile River Valley in Egypt and Nubia, the Eastern Desert, and along the Red Sea Coast. Utilizing a catalogue of medieval Aswan pottery, archaeological survey could help to create more nuanced maps of human occupation between the 9th and 16th centuries CE throughout Egypt. Studies of medieval material culture can provide alternative perspectives on consumption, economic exchange, and daily life. The incorporation of reliable ceramic sequences into archaeological survey as a tool for identifying and dating settlements may also problematize traditional historical narratives and help to create new models of occupation and land use in provincial and rural Egypt.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sudan
Sub Area
13th-18th Centuries