Cerámicas cubiertas de barro: datos de algunas vasijas del Segundo Periodo Intermedio/Reino Nuevo halladas en la tumba QH33 de la necrópolis de Qubbet el-Hawa, Asuán

María J. López-Grande, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (España)
2019 Trabajos de Egiptología Papers on Ancient Egypt  
Archaeological research carried out at Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan, Egypt), led by Dr Alejandro Jiménez Serrano (University of Jaén, Spain), has brought to light some pottery vessels with abundant remains of mud bonded to their outer surfaces. The thickness of this mud, spread over the whole body of the vases, seems to indicate that these pots were intentionally covered in mud before being placed inside the tomb. All the vessels found with this peculiarity are large jars. Their sizes as well as other
more » ... details related to their shapes and raw materials suggest that they were intended to transport and/or store offerings. The practice of intentionally covering the entire outer surface of large pottery vessels in mud is not widely attested in pharaonic times. The consulted bibliography offers examples of pots partially covered in mud, mainly restricting the area to the pot's mouth in order to facilitate its sealing. This article presents the pottery types covered in mud found inside Tomb QH33. It advances some interpretative hypotheses that have been explored in order to gain an understanding of this practice. These are based on some few archaeological parallels as well as on ethnographic and anthropological data. It also presents some proposals on the use of mud in connection with ceramics in Pharaonic Egypt.
doi:10.25145/j.tde.2019.10.10 fatcat:irpqkp4tvjfw5k7gx57hl37lxa