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Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery: A case-study of potmarks at the Gebel el-Asr gneiss quarties
Ian Shaw, Liverpool

Abstract: This paper deals with a set of potmarks on a group of late 12th Dynasty storage vessels excavated in the Gebel el-Asr gneiss-quarrying region in Lower Nubia. A group of twenty-two intact 12th Dynasty pottery flat-bottomed storage jars and two smaller intact Middle Kingdom vessels were found in a dry-stone structure that appears to have formed the nucleus of the quarrying settlement at Quartz Ridge. Twelve of the large storage jars bore pre-firing potmarks on the insides of rims and/or post-firing marks incised on their shoulders. These marks are examined and interpreted in the light of the social and economic dynamics of centre and periphery in Middle Kingdom Egypt, particularly in relation to the functions and distribution of the large Middle Kingdom storage vessels made from Marl C1 fabric.

Introduction
Although potmarks have often proved difficult to understand satisfactorily, one aspect of interpretive method seems to enjoy general agreement, not only in the study of Egyptian examples but also in the analysis of other ancient potmarking practices: the fundamental importance of context. Thus Nicolle Hirschfeld, in her review of Michael Lindbloms book concerning Middle and late Helladic manufacturers marks on Aeginetan pottery,1 points out that many publications dealing with Aegean potmarks have illustrated how a contextual approach consideration of a marks method of application, where and on what kind(s) of vases it appears, and the functional, chronological, and geographical importance of its findspot(s) might contribute to understanding the purpose(s) of marking.2 Lindblom himself places his study of potmarks primarily in the context of the scale and organization of ceramic production in Aegina, using ethnographic parallels to reinforce his hypotheses.3 As far as ancient Egyptian potmarks are concerned, Carla Gallorinis study of Middle Kingdom potmarks from Kahun was intended to provide a useful, even if partial, general survey of the types of vessel on which marks occur, and possibly show distinct patterns of distribution for the marks among the different pottery types, therefore, in other words, technological, functional, and fabric-oriented issues are crucial contexts for the study of ancient Egyptian potmarks.4 This paper discusses a group of vessels bearing potmarks from Gebel el-Asr, a remote Middle Kingdom quarrying site in the desert to the west of Lake Nasser, tak-

1 2 3 4

Lindblom (2001). Hirschfeld (2007: 1). Lindblom (2001: Chapter 5). Gallorini (1998: 12).

Ian Shaw

ing into account their archaeological, chronological, geographical and socio-economic contexts.5

Gebel el-Asr
The Gebel el-Asr gneiss quarrying region covers an area of about 12 square kilometres to the south of Wadi Tushka and to the west of Lake Nasser (see Fig. 1). It consists of a number of individual quarrying areas dating from the Neolithic period to the

Fig. 1: Map of ancient Egypt and Nubia showing the location of the Gebel el-Asr archaeological site (the Chephren diorite quarries). 5 I am greatly indebted to Carla Gallorini for her comments when the storage jars first came to light, as well as for the rich data and discussion in her doctoral thesis (Gallorini 1998), and I am also grateful to Deborah Darnell and Ashraf el-Senussi for their work on the Gebel el-Asr pottery, and to Louise Simson and Richard Lee for their assistance in recording the storage vessels and their marks. Thanks are also due to all those who have worked on the Gebel el-Asr geoarchaeological project since 1997.

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery

Middle Kingdom (Fig. 2): Quartz Ridge, Khufu Stele Quarry, Chisel Quarry, Loading Ramp Quarry and Stele Ridge. The first four locations are all gneiss quarries, whereas the fifth, Stele Ridge, was evidently a set of gemstone mines exploited in the Middle Kingdom and, judging from the survival of one amphora, visited at least once during the Roman period. The 80-kilometre route linking the quarries with the nearest Nile embarkation point at modern Tushka is the longest surviving Egyptian quarry road.6

Fig. 2: Plan of the Gebel el-Asr region, showing the locations of the various sites mentioned in the text.

Stone vessels are the earliest objects of gneiss known; these date from the Neolithic period to the 6th Dynasty, and were particularly common in the 3rd Dynasty. Statues of gneiss were produced during the Old Kingdom and 12th Dynasty, such as the dyad of King Sahura with a figure personifying the Coptos nome (New York, MMA 18.2.4) and the headless torso of a statue of King Senusret I, 12th Dynasty, c.1971-1926 BC (Berlin, M 1205). The few surviving post-Middle Kingdom gneiss statues, such as a 19th Dynasty block-statue from Heliopolis (Vienna S64), may well have been carved from earlier sculptures or blocks. Indeed the comparative dearth of gneiss sculpture surviving from the New Kingdom onwards suggests that the quarries probably ceased to be used by the end of the Middle Kingdom. The Gebel el-Asr quarries can therefore be dated on the basis of two main criteria: first, fluctuations in the extent to which gneiss was used for vessels and/or statuary in different periods, and secondly study of the pottery from different sites within the region as a whole. The former indicates that the quarries were being exploited primarily for vessels in the Predynastic and Early Dynastic period, and mainly for royal statuary in the Old and Middle King-

Engelbach (1933, 1938); Harrell & Brown (1994); Shaw et al. (in press).

Ian Shaw

doms. The pottery from the region dates almost entirely to the Old and Middle Kingdoms. In April 1997, with the permission of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, we undertook our first brief season of survey at the Gebel el-Asr quarries. We examined all the principal sites in the region, taking GPS readings and making small EDM surveys, as well as sketch plans. We then undertook several seasons of GPS archaeological and geological survey and excavation, most recently in 2004. In our second season at the site, in April 1999, we excavated a set of dry-stone huts at Quartz Ridge, where we discovered the twenty-two Middle Kingdom storage jars that form the main focus of this article.

Quartz Ridge at Gebel el-Asr: the archaeological context

At the eastern edge of the Northern Quarries region of Gebel el-Asr is a long strip of high ground roughly following a southwest-northeast axis, punctuated by four stone cairns, one of which is composed of fragments of quartz, so that the area as a whole was named Quartz Ridge by Engelbach and Murray, the first archaeologists to work at the site (see Fig. 3 for a satellite image of the area). As a result of the flatness of the

Fig. 3: Satellite photograph of Quartz Ridge, Gebel el-Asr.

general terrain in the Gebel el-Asr region, the prominence of Quartz Ridge itself and the presence of the cairns (which are assumed to date back to the pharaonic period or earlier), it is a highly visible feature in the landscape. Since there is also a considerable amount of anorthosite gneiss in the immediate vicinity, it is not surprising that this ridge seems to have formed a kind of operational focus for both Old and Middle Kingdom quarrying. Three basalt dykes to the northwest of the Quartz Ridge quarry-

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery

ing region, were exploited both to provide tools for working the gneiss and also to supply raw material for basalt vessels. The main group of dry-stone huts at Quartz Ridge, which was identified by Engelbach and Murray as the site of the main quarry-workers settlement,7 is the one area of the site where significant quantities of surface pottery have survived. It represented an obvious target for excavation, promising to provide information on the chronology of the expeditions as well as crucial details concerning living conditions and supplies. Compared with other major Old and Middle Kingdom quarries, such as those at Hatnub and Wadi el-Hudi,8 the settlement remains at Gebel el-Asr are very limited in extent, suggesting both that the duration of the expeditions might have been fairly short and that the numbers of workers might not have been very great. The best interpretation of the Quartz Ridge huts was that they constituted a headquarters and supply depot from which the scattered groups of quarries were coordinated. The main visible traces of this group of dry-stone huts were located immediately to the east of the Quartz Cairn landmark. These were the largest collection of structural remains discovered at Gebel el-Asr in the 1997-2004 seasons, and were built on the highest ground in the vicinity. Considerable quantities of ceramics, as well as chips and boulders of gneiss, granite and basalt, litter the surface around these features. The surface remains suggested a cluster of four interrelated rooms, and this was confirmed by excavation of each individual structure.9 In each room there was a deposit of fine desert sand approximately 1 m in depth, with no real stratigraphic phases discernible, and with natural desert surface at its base. The desert here is orange-pink in colour, due to the presence of coloured gravel and small pebbles pressed into the surface. Room 1 (external measurements 2.5 x 2.15 m) contained about 70 potsherds, mostly located directly on (or just above) the floor surface. One complete vessel was found in situ (a large Nile silt basin) upright on the floor. Once the floor level was reached, an entranceway (54 cm wide) was clearly apparent on the east side of the room, connecting it to the adjacent Room 4. In Room 2 another intact pottery vessel (a medium-sized round-bottomed jar, probably a typical late 12th Dynasty offering vessel) was found in situ on the floor surface. Further potsherds were retrieved from the floor surface (mostly non-diagnostic, but representing a greater variety of vessel types than in Room 1) and once again there were desiccated seeds and small pieces of wood on the floor surface. Room 3 proved to be the largest of the rooms, essentially comprising a form of courtyard. The same aeolian sand fill was present and the same floor surface reached,10 but it soon became apparent that this room contained twenty-two large storage vessels, placed upright in two long lines, and all still intact (Fig. 4). The vessels were virtually identical and were identifiable as Middle Kingdom storage jars,

7 Murray (1939: 108). 8 Shaw (1994). 9 This section of the article, dealing with the excavation of the dry-stone huts at Quartz Ridge, is based on field notes provided by Richard Lee, the site supervisor for this part of the site in 1999 and 2000. 10 The floor surface of this room was, however, 30 cm higher than that in Rooms 1 and 2.

Ian Shaw

each one approximately 60 cm high and with an average capacity of 76.5 litres. Many of them bore pre-firing potmarks on the insides of their rims and post-firing numbers incised on their shoulders. Since we were only able to excavate around half of the large room in which the storage jars were kept, the original total number of vessels is Fig. 4: The 12th Dynasty storage jars, as excavated at Quartz Ridge, not clear, but the 22 + Gebel el-Asr. Each jar is shown with its assigned number (note that jar vessels represent a sig22, which had no potmarks, was not yet visible, being unexcavated nificant amount of storbeneath the sand to the left). age in support of the quarrying expeditions, and may ultimately prove to be useful evidence in terms of evaluating the numbers of workers involved in the Middle Kingdom work at Gebel elAsr. Room 4 was, in its essential criteria, similar to the preceding three, and yielded small quantities of pottery, shell, desiccated seeds and a tiny fragment of rope. A large piece of charcoal was also discovered, wedged into the south wall. The eastern wall of this room had a doorway or potential window, most likely the former it would seem. However, if entering the room by this entrance one would be presented with a 60 cm drop between the base of the entrance and the rooms floor. Adjacent to Room 4, lying on the present day ground surface we found a stele of red stone bearing the Horus name and birth name of the 5th Dynasty ruler, Nyuserra (c. 2445-2421 BC), who had not previously been documented at the site. Surveying of the Quartz Ridge location revealed approximately ten other drystone structures along the east-west axis of the ridge, two of which were excavated in the 2003 season. These dwellings are more scattered than the cluster of buildings at the excavated Quartz Ridge settlement; they form a rough line of buildings, with entrances facing south, built on the western aspect of the ridge, against what would have been a prevailing northern wind. Beyond these ten structures, to the west, is a dried up wadi-bed which seems to have been of quite a shallow depth, with further dry-stone structures located at its edges, two of which (SP85 and SP90) were excavated in the 2000 season. SP90 proved to contain the remains of at least one donkey. The nature of all the excavated structures at Quartz Ridge is essentially ephemeral, and these buildings were probably only created for occasional, seasonal/short-term use. The walls are all built out of the local quartzite rocks, none of which were dressed or worked, and without any bonding material between them.

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery

The storage jars: the ceramic context

The twenty-two storage jars from Room 3 of the main dry-stone structure at Quartz Ridge are made from Marl C1 fabric. According to Carla Gallorini,11 vessels of this type, probably produced in the Memphis-Faiyum region,12 were particularly suited to the transportation and long-term storage of dry substances such as grain, but Dorothea Arnold13 has argued that they were most likely used for the storage of beer. The clay employed for these storage jars is defined by Gallorini as follows: Marl C, variant 1; the section is usually zoned, red with a black/dark grey core. The surface is always uncoated and it shows a white/grey colour due to the efflorescence of salts during the firing process.14 Although Dorothea Arnold has suggested that the Marl C1 fabric might have originated among the potters in the region of el-Lisht,15 Bettina Bader argues that there may have been a Middle Egyptian source of this clay, providing a more convenient source for Upper Egypt or Nubia.16 It has also been suggested that the many examples excavated at Tell el-Maskhuta might have been locally made.17 As far as manufacturing techniques are concerned, the main bodies of the Marl C1 storage vessels are all hand-made using the coiling method, while the flat base is possibly made over a mould. The rim and upper shoulder, judging from clear surviving rilling marks, were usually hand-turned and added to the vessel after the first drying stage. The rim-type varies greatly, but Arnold has suggested, primarily on the basis of examples from Dahshur, el-Lisht and Tell el-Dabaa that a temporal sequence, based on four distinctive rim-types can be discerned.18 On the basis of Arnolds rim sequence, Ashraf el-Senussi argues that the Gebel el-Asr jars should be assigned to the late 12th or early 13th Dynasty.19 This fits well with the dates of other Middle Kingdom pottery forming part of the same assemblage at our Quartz Ridge structure, e.g. a large Nile C basin that was very similar to examples dating from the reign of Senusret III at Abydos20 and Amenemhat III at Hawara.21 The peak period of use of the Marl C1 storage jars was in the mid- to late12th Dynasty, although examples at Tell elDabaa were found in strata dating to the late 12th to mid-13th dynasties,22 and there are also examples at Kom Rabiaa and Tell el-Dabaa dating to the 13th Dynasty,23 as well as sherds at Karnak North dating as late as the Second Intermediate Period.24 Much of the surface pottery scattered around the Quartz Ridge settlement also derived from large Middle Kingdom storage vessels of this type (see Fig. 5 for drawings of two examples recorded in the 2003 season). Similar jars have been found not only

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Gallorini (1998: 43). Nordstrm & Bourriau (1993: 180). Arnold (1988: 114). Gallorini (1998: 43). Arnold (1988: 146). Bader (2001: 32-36). Redmount (1989: IV, 775). Arnold (1988: Fig. 74, no. 51). See catalogue nos 1/03 and 18/03, discussed in el-Senussi (2003). Wegner (2001: Fig. 8, No. 20). el-Senussi (1999). Gallorini (1998: 52); Bader (2001: 155-160). Gallorini (1998: 46). Jacquet-Gordon (1990: 14-17).

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at the sites already mentioned above, but also at Qasr el-Sagha,25 Haraga,26 Tell el-Maskhuta,27 Abu Ghalib,28 Askut,29 Ayn Sukhna,30 Mersa Gawasis31 and Abu Ziyar.32 The main el-Lisht group of Marl C storage vessels of this type is the set of 22 jars (also with pre-firing marks inside their rims) that was found in the so-called South wall deposit 1.33 These have been securely dated to the middle of the reign of Senusret I. The exFig. 5: Drawings of Marl C storage vessels cavations at el-Lisht have, however, also yielded 1/03 and 18/03, on the basis of rim-sherds fragments of vessels of this type in a refuse dump collected from the surface at Quartz Ridge in the 2003 season (original drawings by associated with settlement in the southeastern Ashraf el-Senussi). corner of the cemetery.34 The site of Abu Ziyar, excavated by John Darnell,35 is highly comparable with Quartz Ridge; it is thought to be a kind of Middle Kingdom supply depot about one third of the way along the northern Girga route between the Nile valley and Kharga oasis, comprising a rectangular dry-stone structure associated with sherds deriving from hundreds of Marl C storage vessels. Darnell argues that the Abu Ziyar examples may well date to around the same time as those in the South wall deposit 1 at el-Lisht: the jars, from their fabric seemingly products of the area of Lisht, appear to have been dispatched from the Nile Valley as provisions for a large expedition perhaps the official opening of Kharga to Middle Kingdom activity. Before we consider the potmarks on the Quartz Ridge vessels, it is important to note that the best parallels for the Gebel el-Asr group of marked storage vessels come both from the Middle Kingdom political and economic centres (Lisht/Itj-tawy, Dahshur, Hawara and Karnak) and also from its peripheries (Abu Ziyar, Ayn Sukhna, Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Askut, Qasr el-Sagha). Whatever the significance of the deliberate marking of large storage jars may be, they clearly played an important role in 12th Dynasty governmental distribution of supplies across steadily expanding territory, facilitating a diversification of economic interests.

The potmarks
Twelve of the twenty-two Quartz Ridge jars (1, 4-6, 9, 12-14, 16, 17, 20, 21) bear either one or two potmarks on their interior or exterior surfaces, sometimes both; altogether there are six pre-firing marks and eleven post-firing marks (see Tables 1 and 2). The other ten jars (2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 22) have neither pre- nor post-firing
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Sliwa (1992: Fig. 10, 1). Engelbach (1923: Pl. XXXIX, 67E). Redmount (1989: 775). Larsen (1936: Pl. 72). Smith (1993: Fig. 9). V. Perunka (pers. comm.). Bard & Fattovitch (2007: 104-105). Darnell (2008). Arnold (1988: 113). Arnold (1988: 124, Fig. 74). Darnell (2008).

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery

potmarks. Eight of the marks seem to indicate rough versions of hieroglyphic representations of numerals, with two examples being rough crosses (see Fig. 6 for a barchart showing proportions of pre- and post-fired marks that appear to be numerical, as well as a breakdown of the combinations of signs in each of the presumed numerical marks).

Fig. 6: The presumed numerical types of potmarks on the Quartz Ridge storage vessels (in the list on the left, v=vertical sign and h=horizontal sign).

The vast majority of the 580 sherds bearing incised marks that were brought back to the UK by Petrie from his excavations at Kahun were of Marl C fabric, and of these 258 derived from large storage jars of the type under discussion here. This clearly demonstrates the high tendency for large 12th Dynasty Marl C1 storage jars to bear potmarks.36 Bard and Fattovitch also note, in their report on the 2001-5 excavations at Mersa Gawasis that most of the pot marks are associated with Marl C zirs, with the few others appearing characteristically on drinking bowls.37 Most of the marks are said to be pre-firing, primarily consisting of vertical or horizontal commas, usually positioned either on the rim or upper shoulder, as with the Gebel el-Asr examples (see Figs. 6-8 and 10). However, they also note the presence of graffiti marks located in the middle and upper parts of the vessel exterior, and often in association with the prefiring potmarks; it appears that the graffiti marks correspond to those which we define at Gebel el-Asr as post-firing potmarks (see Fig. 9 for the exterior mark on jar 12 at Quartz Ridge).

36 Gallorini (1998: 72), however, makes the important point that potmarks may perhaps be disproportionately represented on Marl fabrics because of better preservation: on sherds in Nile clays the marks are extremely difficult to detect; their surface is often eroded, and the marks may become confused with unintentional signs left on the surface during manufacture. 37 Bard & Fattovitch (2007: 105-106).

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Fig. 7: The potmarks on storage jar no. 1 at Quartz Ridge.

Fig. 8: The potmarks on storage jar no. 9 at Quartz Ridge.

Fig. 9: The potmarks on storage jar no. 12 at Quartz Ridge.

Fig. 10: The potmarks on storage jar no. 17 at Quartz Ridge.

Gallorini argues that pre-firing marks were inevitably created at an earlier stage in the production of pottery than post-firing ones: we can trace the origin of the pre-firing marks as far back as the pottery workshop (although this does not necessarily mean that the instruction to apply the marks came from the potters), reducing considerably the range of possible interpretations.38 A similar observation is made by Bard and Fattovitch,39 who comment that pre-fired incised rim-marks and graffiti represent two different acts made at two different times, but they also point out that the rim marks might no longer have been visible once the vessel had actual been filled with its intended contents. Bard and Fattovitch note that pre-firing marks on vessels rims have traditionally been linked with vessels capacities, but this seems unlikely in the case of the twenty-two Gebel el-Asr jars, which all had virtually the same capacity of 76.5 litres.

Discussion
Gallorini suggests, with regard to pre-firing potmarks, that The last hypothesis is the possibility that someone extraneous to the workshop could have asked the potters
38 Gallorini (1998: 13). 39 Bard & Fattovitch (2007: 106).

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery

11

to apply the marks for reasons related not to the pottery manufacture, but to the logistic/administrative aspects of the vessels final distribution. I am thinking especially of the pottery produced by the ateliers directly controlled by the central administration, and working mainly, if not exclusively, to supply vessels for royal buildings and royal domains many of the sites in which pre-firing marks are well attested are either newly founded settlements in relation to royal domains (Ezbet Rushdi, Lisht, Qasr elSagha, Kahun, the Nubian forts) or royal funerary complexes (Lahun, Dahshur, Lisht south).40 To this list of course can now be added the Red Sea coastal sites of Ayn Sukhna and Mersa Gawasis, and the two western desert sites of Abu Ziyar and Gebel el-Asr, all four of which are clearly both geographically peripheral and also closely connected with Middle Kingdom forays into outlying reasons, either for commercial reasons (Mersa Gawasis and Abu Ziyar) or the exploitation of mineral resources (Ayn Sukhna and Gebel el-Asr). In view of the possibility that the post-firing marks on the vessels exteriors (i.e. Bard and Fattovitchs graffiti marks) might refer more to contents, functions, transportation and destinations, it is interesting to note that the Mersa Gawasis graffiti include representations of boats, suggesting a direct reference to the use of these vessels in connection with maritime expeditions, thus corresponding to the role of the site as a harbour for expeditions to and from Punt. Figure 11 shows the five external post-firing marks on Quartz Ridge storage jars that appear to be non-numerical; none of these have any obvious connection with the purpose of the expedition at Quartz Ridge, i.e. the quarrying of gneiss and/or chalcedony. Two of them do however resemble some in the catalogue of Kahun potmarks, thus the mark on jar 5 is close to Gallorinis catalogue no. 256,41 Fig. 11: A selection of five non-numerical marks on storage jars at Quartz Ridge. and that on jar 13 is similar to catalogue nos. 226-7.42 In order to understand more clearly the relationships between places, supply routes and potmarks (assuming that all three may actually be linked), it will be necessary to have published catalogues not only of the potmarks from Kahun and Gebel el-Asr but all those from both central and peripheral sites mentioned above, so that the typology can be subjected to full spatial Fig. 12: Diagram of central and peripheral sites with Middle Kingdom Marl C1 storage vessels. analysis.
40 Gallorini (1998: 260-261). 41 Gallorini (1998: 85). 42 Gallorini (1998: 70-71).

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Bibliography
Arnold, Dieter. 1988. The South Cemeteries of Lisht I: The Pyramid of Senusret I, Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 22, New York. Bader, Bettina. 2001. Tell el-Dabaa XIII. Typologie und Chronologie der Mergel C-Ton Keramik, Denkschriften der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 22, Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo des sterreichischen Archologischen Institutes 19, Vienna. Bard, Kathryn & Rodolfo Fattovitch (eds.). 2007. Harbor of the Pharaohs to the Land of Punt: Archaeological Investigations at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt, 2001-2005, Naples. Darnell, John. 2008. Abu Ziyar and Tundaba, Yale Egyptological Institute in Egypt, http://www.yale.edu/egyptology/ae_tundaba_remains.htm [last accessed 2009-02-06]. Engelbach, Reginald. 1923. Harageh, British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account 1914, 28, London. --- 1933. The Quarries of the Western Nubian Desert: A Preliminary Report, in: Annales du Service des Antiquits de lEgypte 33, 65-74. --- 1938. The Quarries of the Western Nubian Desert and the Ancient Road to Tushka, in: Annales du Service des Antiquits de lEgypte 38, 369-390. Gallorini, Carla. 1998. Incised Marks on Pottery and Other Objects from Kahun: Systems of Communication in Egypt during the Late Middle Kingdom, unpublished PhD thesis, University College London. Harrell, James A. & V. Max Brown. 1994. Chephrens Quarry in the Nubian Desert of Egypt, in: Nubica 3/1, 43-57. Hirschfeld, Nicolle. 2007. Review of Lindblom 2001, in: American Journal of Archaeology 111.1, Online Publications: Book Reviews, http://www.ajaonline.org/index.php?ptype=breview&riss=29 [last accessed 2009-02-06]. Jacquet-Gordon, Helen. 1990. Karnak-Nord (IFAO. 1987-1989), in: Bulletin de Liaison du Groupe International dtude de la Cramique gyptienne 14, 14-17. Larsen, Hjalmar. 1936. Vorbericht ber die schwedischen Grabungen in Abu Ghalib 1932-1934, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 6, 41-87. Lindblom, Michael. 2001. Marks and Makers: Appearance, Distribution and Function of Middle and Late Helladic Manufacturers Marks on Aeginetan Pottery, Jonsered. Nordstrm, Hans Ake & Janine Bourriau. 1993. Ceramic Technology: Clays and Fabrics, in: An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Pottery, ed. by Do. Arnold & J. Bourriau, Sonderschrift des Deutschen Archologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 17, Mainz am Rhein, 143-190. Redmount, Carol A. 1989. On an Egyptian/Asiatic Frontier: An Archaeological History of the Wadi Tumilat, unpublished PhD thesis, Chicago. el-Senussi, Ashraf. 1999. Unpublished SCA Report on the Pottery from the 1999 Survey and Excavations at Gebel el-Asr. --- 2003. Unpublished SCA Report on the Pottery from the 2003 Survey and Excavations at Gebel elAsr. Shaw, Ian. 1994. Pharaonic Quarrying and Mining: Settlement and Procurement in Egypts Marginal Areas, in: Antiquity 68, 108-119. Shaw, Ian, Tom Heldal, Per Storemyr & Elizabeth G. Bloxam. In press. Quarrying and Landscape at Gebel el-Asr in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, in: Proceedings of the First Neapolitan Congress of Egyptology, ed. by F. Raffaele, I. Incordino & M. Nuzzollo,Wiesbaden. Sliwa, Joachim. 1992. The Middle Kingdom Settlement at Qasr el-Sagha 1979-1988, Cracow. Smith, Stuart Tyson. 1993. The House of Meryka at Askut and the Beginning of the New Kingdom in Nubia, in: Atti del VI Congresso Internazionale di Egittologia II, Turin, 497-509.

Tables
Table 1: The potmarks on the 12th Dynasty storage jars at Quartz Ridge
Jars numbered 1-22 (see Fig. 4). Ten have neither pre- nor post-firing potmarks (2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 22). The other twelve each have either one or two (and, in one case, even three) potmarks. Altogether there are six pre-firing marks and eleven post-firing marks. Jar 1: (a) post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder (b) pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, consisting of two roughly vertical strokes followed by one horizontal

Non-textual marks and the twelfth Dynasty dynamics of centre and periphery Jar 4: Jar 5: Jar 6: Jar 9: Jar 12: Jar 13: Jar 14: Jar 16: Jar 17:

13

Jar 20: Jar 21:

post-firing painted black mark on exterior, on the shoulder post-firing lightly incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder (a) post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder (b) pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, consisting of three vertical lines and possibly a horizontal line below them (a) post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder (b) pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, consisting of two vertical lines with a horizontal line above them post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder, forming a faint cross shape post-firing painted mark on exterior, on the shoulder, taking the form of a serpentine line pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, forming shape of capital letter I (a) post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder: nine vertical strokes preceded by a V on its side (b) second post-firing mark on exterior, consisting of an inverted V with six vertical strokes below it (c) pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, consisting of a rough cross shape pre-firing mark on the interior of the rim, consisting of a V-shape on its side post-firing incised mark on exterior, on the shoulder: twelve vertical strokes

Table 2: Gebel el-Asr potmarks: the statistics

22 storage jars 12 with potmarks 6 with pre-firing marks 11 with post-firing marks

Pre-firing marks
Jar 1b: Jar 9b: Jar 12b: Jar 16: Jar 17c: Jar 20: Jar 1a: Jar 4: Jar 5: Jar 6: Jar 9: Jar 12a: Jar 13: Jar 14: Jar 17a: Jar 17b: Jar 21: [Incised/Rim/Interior] 2 verticals and one horizontal [Incised/Rim/Interior] 3 verticals and one possible horizontal [Incised/Rim/Interior] 2 verticals and one horizontal [Incised/Rim/Interior] T sign [Incised/Rim/Interior] + sign [Incised/Rim/Interior] V sign on its side [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] Diagonal followed by horizontal [Painted/Shoulder/Exterior] serpentine sign [Lightly incised/Shoulder/Exterior] X sign with horizontal line above and below [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] four verticals? [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] three verticals with horizontal below [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] 7 sign [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] + sign [Painted/Shoulder/Exterior] serpentine sign [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] V sign on side followed by nine verticals [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] inverted V sign with six verticals below [Incised/Shoulder/Exterior] twelve verticals

Post-firing marks