An Overview of The Predynastic Pottery o

An overview of the
PREDYNASTIC POTTERY
of Ancient Egypt
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................. 7
Neolithic
Buto ................................................................................................. 8
el-Omari ................................................................................................. 8
Faiyum A ................................................................................................. 9
Maadi ................................................................................................. 9
Merimda Beni Salama ...............................................................................10
Mostagedda ..............................................................................................10
Badarian
Class BB ................................................................................................11
Class BR ................................................................................................12
Class MS ................................................................................................13
Class PR ................................................................................................14
Class AB ................................................................................................15
Class SB ................................................................................................16
Class RB ................................................................................................17
Petrie’s Sequence Dates ....................................................................................18
Revised Sequence Dates ...................................................................................20
Pottery manufacture and decoration...................................................................21
Naqada era pottery
B-ware ................................................................................................24
F-ware ................................................................................................27
L-ware ................................................................................................30
N-ware ................................................................................................31
P-ware ................................................................................................34
R-ware ................................................................................................36
W-ware ................................................................................................38
Blackware ................................................................................................41
C-ware
Introduction ......................................................................................44
Lines, triangles, chevrons, etc. .........................................................45
Objects.............................................................................................50
Boats................................................................................................52
Plants...............................................................................................53
Animals ............................................................................................59
Animals in 3 dimensions...................................................................73
Human figures..................................................................................78
Decorated ware
Introduction ......................................................................................86
Precursors of writing?.......................................................................87
Find spots of D-ware ........................................................................88
Lines ................................................................................................89
Mottled design..................................................................................97
Spirals..............................................................................................99
Bird-shaped....................................................................................104
With spouts ....................................................................................108
Boat shaped...................................................................................109
Water and hills ...............................................................................110
Water, hills, vegetation and other signs..........................................115
Naqada plant and other signs.........................................................117
Animals and/or birds ......................................................................122
Animals, and/or birds and humans .................................................137
Boats with water and/or hills...........................................................146
Boats with vegetation and other signs ............................................152
Boats with animals and/or birds and other signs.............................198
Predynastic Pottery of Ancient Egypt
______________________________
Decorated ware
Boats with animals and/or birds and other signs [cont.] ..................208
Boats with humans and other signs................................................220
Double pots depicting boats ...........................................................255
Late D-ware with brush marks........................................................259
Late D-ware with “finger marks” .....................................................265
Forged decoration on Predynastic pottery ........................................................268
White cross-lined.....................................................................................270
Decorated ware.......................................................................................272
Bibliography ..............................................................................................296
Relevant websites ............................................................................................301
Appendix I – Key to classes and types of pottery..............................................305
Appendix II – D-ware decoration
Fauna depicted on D-ware ......................................................................306
Flora depicted on D-ware ........................................................................311
Landscapes.............................................................................................319
Spirals ..............................................................................................320
Shrines/cabins.........................................................................................321
S-signs and Z-signs.................................................................................321
Animal skins ............................................................................................322
“Hathor” signs..........................................................................................322
Human figures.........................................................................................323
Appendix III – D-ware decoration
Boats ..............................................................................................326
Standards/ensigns...................................................................................329
Appendix IV – Identified boat designs on D-ware .............................................339
Appendix V – Unidentified boat designs on D-ware ..........................................346
Acknowledgements
Due to the scarcity of books and journals in my corner of the world, I have relied heavily on
the good graces of many people who have had the patience to search for references,
journals and photographs on my behalf, or have given their ideas, comments, and
corrections!.
In particular, for their invaluable contributions, sincere thanks to:
• Francesco Raffaele, for access to his incredible website and his unstinting generosity
with regard to sharing information, particularly in relation to the forged pottery section;
• Gill Russell, for the generous sharing of her library, her loving attention to detail, and
invaluable comments;
• J D deGreef, for a scholarly and rational explanation of symbols and signs, with
particular emphasis on the Standards displayed on the boats of the Decorated ware
pots, as well as his willingness to share information and photographs;
• Jon Bodsworth, for the use of his exquisite photographs, and explanations regarding
special exhibitions of various Museums;
• kat Newkirk, for her enthusiasm, ideas, comments and provision of articles;
• Katherine Griffis-Greenberg, for her invaluable fount of knowledge, and her diligent
searching for articles with generosity and patience;
• Dr Stephen Buckley, York University, for sharing his thoughts and ideas on forged
decorations;
• Dr Carter Lupton, Milwaukee Museum, for his generosity in sharing personal

photographs; and
• Jack Dean, for sharing his extensive digital library.

An overview of the Predynastic Pottery of Ancient Egypt
Introduction
The study of pottery has always been very important in ascertaining regional development
and trade. Evidence is constantly being found that points to Egypt’s influence beyond its
borders. Predynastic sites in the Palestinian region have yielded pottery made of Nile clay,
whilst Palestinian pots have been found as grave goods in Predynastic Egyptian burials.
Naqada pottery was also traded with Egypt's southern neighbours, which is attested by the
artefacts found in foreign royal graves, such as at Seyala in Nubia, where it is thought that
the pottery had been gifts from one ruler to another, or as trade goods.
Map showing the main areas where Predynastic pottery has been discovered
______________________________
All of the pottery of the Predynastic period was made without the use of a potter's wheel.
Many of the handcrafted examples that were fired in either open bonfires or very primitive
kilns remain some of the most beautiful pottery ever produced in Egypt. The Badarian period
pottery is easily recognisable, having been burnished to a lustrous finish, while the White
cross-lined and Decorated ware were painted with animals, birds, patterns, boats and human
figures.
Much of the Neolithic pottery is coarse, but functional, and the following are a few examples.
Neolithic pottery
The following are examples of Neolithic pottery, dated to before and during the Badarian
period.
Buto
[Right] an example of
the simple pottery
found in the Delta
region (near Buto1)
and dated to c. 4000
BCE
el-Omari
The vessel, to the left, is
a typical example of the
pottery produced at el-
Omari2 (c.4500-3500
BCE) in Lower Egypt
1
Photograph from the website of Dr Scott Bucking
2
Photograph from the website of Dr Scott Bucking
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Faiyum A
The different types of
pottery found at Kom W
included small bowls and
cups, cooking bowls and
pots, as well as
pedestalled cups, which
was produced between
5450-4400 BCE.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology3 –
UC2523
Dated to Faiyum A
Width: 32cm
A Red polished cooking

pot with flat base, found
in the Faiyum area.
Maadi
In general, Maadian
pottery is globular with a
broad, flat base, a
narrow neck with flared
rims. It is rarely
decorated with the
exception of incised
marks applied after firing.
Some large storage jars
were found in the
settlements, as well as a
few black-topped red
pots (indicating contact
with the south) and many
imported vessels from
Palestine.
[Left] Maadi pot found at

Naqada, now in the
Egyptian Museum,
Cairo4
3
Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs [and/or text relating to them] are from the websites of the respective
museums, art galleries or auction houses noted with each illustration. See also relevant websites in Part 5.
4
Schulz [1998] p.12
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Merimda Beni Salama

Egyptian Museum,
Cairo
A sherd of polished
pottery with a
herringbone pattern,
dated to c. 5000 BCE.
Bowls and deep dishes
of fine clay were
polished smooth with a
hard object. This
process gave the
surface a dark red-
purple burnish. On
many of the items
found, a decorative
band, with a
herringbone pattern,
was incised on the
shoulder of the vessel.5
Mostagedda
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston – 55.52
Height: 17cm,
diameter:14cm
Dated to c. 5500-3800
BCE
Found at Mostagedda,
in Tomb 464
High sided pottery bowl

(or beaker) of brown
burnished ware, with
some blackened
patches.
5
Seidlmayer [1998] p.9
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Badarian pottery
There is a general similarity in the forms of the Badarian pottery. Most of the vessels have
straight rims and no necks. Bowls, both shallow and deep, form the majority of the pots,
dating from c. 4500-3800 BCE). The pottery was handmade and, on some of the vessels,
the surface was covered with fine rippling (probably caused by “combing”, see detail of
UC9045). The better class of pottery had a slip, the colour of the wash varying according to
the degree of heat used in the firing to the amount of oxygen present. The clay used for
these pots was generally very finely grained.6
When found, the pottery was divided into seven classifications7, examples of which are
shown below.
Black-topped brown polished (Class BB)

This pottery is unique to the Badari region and is thought to have been the earliest produced.
It is generally extremely thin with fine rippling.
Petrie Museum of Egyptian

Archaeology – UC9235
Found at Badari
Height: 14cm, width: 12.7cm
A black-topped brown polished

pottery bowl, with a faint ripple. The
interior of the bowl is a uniform
black.

Found at Badari
Height: 10.2cm, width: 17.8cm
A black-topped, pale brown

pottery bowl, burnished black
inside. The holes indicate a
repair from an ancient break in
the bowl.
6
Brunton [1928] pp.21-26
7
Refer to Appendix I, Part 5
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Found at Badari
A pottery bowl of dark brown

and black, with a very fine
ripple pattern. This particular
bowl has a slightly turned lip.
Found in Tomb 5112.
Detail of the surface rippling
Black-topped polished red (Class BR)

Not all of the vessels have polished surfaces. The colour of the slip ranges from bright red to
brown-red, the colour difference most probably due to the different temperatures during the
firing process. The Class BR pottery is also found in the Naqada I and II periods.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology
– UC9264
Dated to Badarian
period (c. 4500-3800
BCE)
Found at Badari
Height: 11.4cm,
width: 13.8cm
Black topped red

pottery bowl, with
ripple effect.
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Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology –
UC9093
Found at Badari
Height: 17.8cm, width:
19cm
A black-topped red
polished bowl with a very
faint ripple decoration.
Petrie Museum of
UC9096
Found at Badari
7.8cm
Black-topped red pottery

bowl.
Miscellaneous form (Class MS)

This class includes fancy form, vases with handles and decorated pots (usually with white
triangles in the interior).
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Polished red (Class PR)

Only a few examples of this class have been found. The pots generally do not have a ripple
effect, and the most common form is the carinated bowl. The earliest P-ware in the Naqada
period is dated to Stage Ia, while the Class PR ware extended into the Naqada era, and
subsequently classified as P-ware.

Found at Badari
Height: 14cm, width:
12.7cm
A red polished pottery

bowl, red slip on brown.

Found at Badari
26.6cm
Although this has been

categorised as a rough red
pottery bowl, it is more
likely one of the few
examples of polished red
pots that have been found,
dating to the Badarian
period. The holes in the
bowl were made in
antiquity, possibly for the
purposes of mending a
crack or break in the bowl.
The burn marks might have
been from a cooking fire
after the bowl had been
completed and which
subsequently cracked from
the heat.
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Petrie Museum of
UC9191
Found at Badari
A fairly rare polished red

pottery bowl, with an
out-turned lip
Petrie Museum of
UC9090
Found at Badari
20.3cm
A polished red, carinated,

pottery bowl with a faint
ripple
All black (Class AB)

There are very few examples of this class, and they are usually in the shape of bowls. The
pottery is quite thick and usually polished.
Petrie Museum of
UC9495
Found at Badari
Height: 15cm, diameter:
23cm
A rare example of a black

pottery bowl, with the
coiled construction still
visible
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Smooth brown (Class SB)

These pots are fairly clumsily made and are usually quite thick. Sometimes the pottery is
burnished smooth, or has a polished appearance.

Found at Badari
A smooth brown, carinated,

pottery bowl
Petrie Museum of
– UC9107
Found at Badari
14.4cm
A smooth brown
pottery bowl
Petrie Museum of
– UC9257
Found at Badari
Height: 10.2cm,
width: 13.9cm
A smooth brown
pottery bowl
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Rough brown (Class RB)

This pottery is coarse ware and imperfectly fired. Quite often the clay contains straw as
temper and the pots are generally hand smoothed. Rough brown is considered to be the last
type of pottery produced in the Badarian period.
Petrie Museum of
UC9127
Found at Badari
15.25cm
A rough brown pottery

bowl
Petrie Museum of
UC9408
Found at Badari
15.25cm
A rough brown pottery

bowl, with lumps of
haematite in the fabric of
the bowl
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Roemer-und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim8

Group of Black-topped ware and one White cross-lined vessel,
dated to Naqada I
Petrie and the Sequence Dates

In 1882 William Matthew Flinders Petrie uncovered a vast cemetery, at the site of Naqada,
containing over 3000 Predynastic graves. In 1899, using the pottery from 900 graves from
Hu, Naqada, Ballas and Abydos, Petrie devised a method of seriation that formed the basis
for his Sequence Dates.
Wavy handled pots became the benchmark of the Sequence Dates, as their evolution from
globular vessels with functional handles to cylindrical forms on which the handles were
merely decoration were fairly consistent in progression. Petrie then divided the pottery into
eight different types or classes, (although these were later expanded into several more
types).
He carefully examined which types of pottery regularly occurred with the Wavy-handled pots.
However, a large part of the pottery was not found together with the Wavy-handled pots,
particularly the White cross-lined, and it was assumed that this type of vessel was the
furthest removed in time from the Wavy-handled type. The system emphasised the relation
of one find to another rather than an exact date of manufacture.
Within this system, Petrie developed classes to include various styles of materials and décor.
Using the finds in the 900 tombs, they were then placed in their most probable chronological
order, and finally divided into 51 equal sections. These sections were numbered from SD30
to SD80. SD77 equated to the beginning of the First Dynasty and the reign of Narmer. The
numbers before SD30 were left for any future discoveries of earlier material.
8
Eggebrecht [1986] p.34
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Petrie’s seriation chart (above) shows 52 types of pottery, from the earliest to the
latest (graded by the wavy-handled pots as a guideline).
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In brief, Petrie’s Sequence Dates:
SD30 – SD38 Naqada I (Amratian) from the site of el-Amra
Sequence SD39 – SD62 Naqada II (Gerzean) from the site near Gerzeh
Dates SD63 – SD76 Naqada III (Semainian) from the site near Es-Semaina
SD77 – SD80 First Dynasty
Petrie's work, for many years, formed the sole means of organising the Predynastic periods
into cultural phases. However, in the late 1950s, a very detailed analysis by Werner Kaiser
confirmed (but greatly refined) the Sequence Dating system. In 1989, Stan Hendrickx,
slightly modified Kaiser’s stufen.
Revised Sequence Dates and Pottery Timelines9

10
Stages Pottery Types Amended SD c. BCE
Naqada Ia B-ware (majority of pots)
P-ware 3800-3500
Naqada Ib SD30-38
C-ware (Stage Ic)
Naqada Ic F-ware (Stage Ic)
Naqada IIa R-ware (first appears)
B-ware
C-ware
F-ware
D-ware (first appears)
N-ware (first appears) 3500-3400
SD38-45
Naqada IIb B-ware
P-ware
F-ware
C-ware (disappears)
D-ware (circles and spirals)
R-ware (increased production)
Naqada IIc B-ware
P-ware
F-ware
N-ware (first appears)
SD45-63 3400-3300
R-ware
L-ware (first appears)
W-ware (first appears)
D-ware (spirals and boat scenes)
Naqada IId1 B-ware (reduced production)
D-ware (spirals, plants, birds, boats, increased
production)
P-ware
F-ware 3300-3250
N-ware
W-ware
R-ware
L-ware
9
Table based on information from Kaiser [1957, 1990] and Crowfoot Payne [1992]
10
For a key to the pottery types, refer to Appendix I, Part 5
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Naqada IId2 R-ware (reduced production)

B-ware
D-ware (simple designs, reduced production)
3250-3200
P-ware
W-ware
L-ware
Naqada IIIa1 D-ware (disappears)
B-ware (reduced production) 3200-3170
F-ware (increased production)
Naqada IIIa2 P-ware SD63-80 3170-3120
R-ware (reduced production)
Naqada IIIb1 L-ware (majority of pots) 3120-3080
Naqada IIIb2 W-ware (devolves into cylinder jars) 3080-3050
Pottery manufacture and decoration

Three types of clay were used in the manufacture of the pottery:
1. Nile silt: A reddish clay with temper [fragments of other material] which, when fired,
often left voids [holes from burned out straw, dung, or evaporated water]. These silt
jars were fairly roughly executed, generally undecorated, and appear to have been
designed for everyday usage.
2. Marl11 clay. These pots appear to have been made by specialist potters and most of
them are decorated. The whitish but sometimes buff-pinkish marl, a mixture of clay
and lime, was found only in a few locations in Upper Egypt, such as at Qena. It
required higher firing temperatures under better controlled conditions than other
clays. For decorative purposes it was preferred to the common Nile silt.
3. A combination of Nile silt and Marl.
Metropolitan Museum – group of Decorated ware pots12
11
Clay and calcium carbonate (marine sediments)
12
Photograph from the website of the New York State Archives Photo Gallery [1937]
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There were also three methods of shaping the earthenware:
1. The scooping out of a vessel from a ball of clay, and pinching it to give it the final
form.
2. The building up of a form, often on a piece of basket-work or matting, gradually

raising the walls higher by applying and smoothing down successive layers of clay.
3. Coiling; in which the clay is rolled out into thin ropes, and these are coiled round and
round upon each other and smoothed down with the hands or with simple tools of
bone, wood or metal.
It was not until the very beginning of the fourth millennium that the pottery exhibited any type
of art which could be classified as drawing. This developed into the designs of white lines,
often cross-hatched, on red-burnished pottery of the Predynastic Amratian (Naqada I) culture
– named after the sites where the culture was first found. The decoration of this ware often
took the form of geometric designs suggesting basketry, interspersed with animal, bird and
plant motifs. These motifs appeared to be centred on the Nile valley flora and fauna, which
included fish, hippopotami, crocodiles and birds.
“The earliest example of painting [on pottery] in Egypt is the 'white line'
pottery, which goes back to the beginning of the Predynastic period, as we
used to know it.
“This was followed a little later, but still early in the Predynastic period, by the
'decorated' ware with figures in red. In the earlier types the white cross lines
are laid on a polished red slip, for which the colouring matter was the same as
that used for the red figures of the later style - namely red ochre - but in this
case the pot was of a buff ware, and had no polish or slip. The white paint was
gypsum. These two materials, red ochre and gypsum are used together with
others, for these two colours throughout the history of Egyptian painting. In
some sense, therefore, these two early types of pottery may be considered the
origin of the art in Egypt.”13
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Pottery dating to Naqada I-II
13
Glanville [1936] p.14
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Around the middle of the fourth millennium BCE the Naqada I period was superseded by a
more developed culture (Naqada II). Significant changes appeared in the design of the
pottery. A more diverse range of subject-matter in ceramic decoration emerged and the use
of the human figure became more prevalent. Men (or gods) were characterised by wide
shoulders and slim hips, whilst women (or goddesses) were depicted with wide hips, narrow
waists and large heads. It has been suggested that the upraised arms of many of the female
figures portray a ritual dance. One of the most important design elements is the Nile boat,
delineated with care and detail, including oars, cabins or shrines, passengers and ensigns
(standards). These have been interpreted as ritual vessels while the male and female
figures above or beside the cabins/shrines are images of deities on a ceremonial voyage,
although definite proof is still lacking. The growing importance of the Nile as a waterway and
path of communication was expressed in a particularly graphic manner. The river-valley
landscape was suggested by rows of triangles symbolising mountain ranges or hills, and
areas of wavy lines indicated water. Plant forms became more elaborate and decorative, as
did the animals and birds.
Musée National du Louvre, Paris14

Group of Naqada I and Naqada II pottery
The Naqada III pottery became more functional and far less decorative than the previous
vessels, gradually evolving into tall cylinder jars with potmarks or names inscribed upon
them.
14
Photograph from the insecula website
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Naqada era pottery
Black-topped red (B-ware)

Distinctive black-topped redware jars were produced in Egypt during the Badari, Naqada I
and Naqada II eras of the Predynastic period. Formed by hand, using the coil method, the
pots were made of brown river clay.
The darker red colour on the lower half of the

jar was created by treating the surface with a
red slip [coloured liquid clay] and then
carefully buffed or burnished with smooth
pebbles. The black top was achieved by
placing the vessel upside-down in the kiln, so
that the ashes of the fire limited the access of
air to the area that was to remain black and
stopped any oxygen reaching the slip.
The first of these pots were flat-based beaker

shapes, widening into a cone. Gradually,
more enclosed, broad-shouldered cask-
shaped vessels developed, along with a
number of other shapes suitable for a wide Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
range of functions. Quite often, pots of – UC10860
complex and ornate forms were made, Dated to Naqada I, Found at Abadiyeh
including vessels with two tubular mouths. Black-topped pot, Type B19K
Black-topped pottery15 on display in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
15
Tiradritti [1998] p.35
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Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology – Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology –

UC4262 UC5688
Found at Naqada. Height: 9.6cm Found at Ballas. Height 18.8cm
Type B27K Type B27F
Both black-topped pots are dated to early Naqada I

Dated to Naqada I
Found at Ballas
Height: 18.8cm
Black topped pot, Type

B76A
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Petrie Museum of
UC4229
Height: 13.1cm, diameter:
10cm
Found at Naqada
Dated to early Naqada II
Black-topped pot, Type

B62B

Archaeology
14cm
Found at el-Amra
Black-topped pot, Type

B54N
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Fancy form (F-ware)

In the Predynastic period, potters created a wide variety of ceramic vessels. Since none of
the known bowls of this type come from a well-understood context, their meaning is difficult
to interpret, as is their original use. Perhaps vessels such as these were placed above a
tomb to present offerings from the living to the deceased, a practice that was an established
part of funerary ritual in Dynastic Egypt. Alternatively, they may have held offerings to a deity
in his shrine. Some of the pots in this category are in animal form, whilst others are double
or triple pots.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Inventory No. 09.379

Dated to Naqada I to II
Height: 5.5cm, width: 11cm, length: 15.7cm
A bowl of red polished Nile silt clay in the shape of a bird, with a pointed tail at the back and
stylised head at the front. Found in Tomb H at el-Mahasna in 1909.
Petrie Museum of
UC15355
Dated to Naqada II
Length: 17cm
A bird-shaped pot in red

ware (beak broken and
mended, tail missing).
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Also classified as Fancy Form, this pot in the shape of a hippopotamus is classified by Petrie
as FF67.
Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels – Inventory No. E.619716

Dated to Naqada II (c. 3500 BCE)
Provenance unknown
Height: 10cm
This small D-ware pottery vase was purchased by the Museum in 1922. It was originally part
of the MacGregor Collection.
16
Photographs from the website of the Global Egyptian Museum
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Provenance unknown
Height: 16cm
Red polished pottery, consisting of

three pots joined together vertically.
Type F52G (F-ware)

Height: 13.2cm, length:

14.5cm
Buff/pink cream coated

pottery jar with spout (Marl A),
constricted neck, flared rim.
Spout arises on shoulder,
bent and tapered to end, body
rounded, base flat.
Dated to Naqada II
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Late ware (L-ware)

This type of pottery first appeared during the latter part of Naqada IIc (SD45-63, c. 3400-
3300 BCE). In appearance, it is similar to the rough ware (Class RB of the Badarian pottery)
and the rough-faced ware which started being produced in Naqada IIa.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology -
UC4351
Dated to Naqada II
Found at Naqada
Height 5.3cm, diameter:
19.1cm
A Late-ware rough bowl

of brown fabric,
Type L7C
Robert V. Fullerton Art

Museum, San Bernardino –
03.028.200017
15.8cm
Dated to Naqada IIIb
This flat-based, fine-

grained L-ware jar appears
to be relatively unused.
The rim was created
separately and attached to
the body.
17
Kaplan [2005] p.116-117
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Black incised (N-ware)

Archaeology - UC17874
Height: 10.7cm
Dated to Naqada II (?)
Provenance unknown
An incised pottery jar with four

holes in the rim for a lid (which
is missing). The decoration
takes the form of a [slanted]
chequer-board pattern.
Possibly SD37 or later.
Type N7518
This type of pottery was first identified in 1910 by Petrie and dated to the Naqada period,
although it was later considered to represent an early phase of the Badarian culture by
Brunton. It has been called “Nubian-ware” because of its similarity to the both the A-group
and C-group pottery of Nubia. The pottery in this section comprises black as well as red and
brown incised ware. The pots may have been imported from Nubia19 or the style imitated by
Egyptian potters.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian Archaeology -
UC9794
Found at Badari
Height: 9cm
Blackware bowl, white

incised.
18
Petrie [1920] Plate XXVII
19
As early as c. 3500 BCE there was [limited] direct river traffic between Egypt and the northern Sudan.
__________
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______________________________

Dated to Naqada II
Found at Luxor
Height: 16cm
Blackware (incised). A black,

flared pottery beaker with three
rivet holes at the break (a sign of
ancient mending techniques).
Alternate bands are incised in a
herring-bone hatching pattern.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology -
UC17869
Possibly dated to
Naqada II (c. 3500-
3200 BCE)
Thought to have
been found at Luxor
Height: 23cm, rim
diameter: 18.5cm,
body diameter: 9cm
A black incised
flared pottery beaker
with a damaged
base (with two small
holes for either a
handle or an ancient
mend). Type N5820
20
Petrie [1920] Plate XXVII
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______________________________
As mentioned previously, included in this category are brown and red burnished wares with
incised decoration, although the following pots were originally classified as Red polished
ware:

Height: 12.5cm,
diameter: 9.5cm
Found at Mahasna
Brown burnished incised

pottery jar marked with an “H”
on the base. Type P77G
Museum of Fine Art, Boston –

Inv. No. 04.1805
Dated to Naqada II
Height: 13.5cm, diameter: 14cm

Purchased in Egypt in 1904, and
thought to be from Naqada
Redware jar with incised white-

filled lines: two registers of
incised triangles on the sides of
the vessel. There are circular
lines on the bottom and four
holes in the rim.
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Polished red (P-ware)

Polished Red ware pots were produced in various shapes which included the joining of
separately made parts while the clay was still soft. The surplus clay was rubbed off the posts
and, after they were dried in the sun, were covered with a wash of fine red clay [slip], which
was burnished with a stone, thus producing a smooth, shiny surface. The ware itself was
very hard and compact. The pots were then fired, either in open fires or in very simple kilns.
Petrie Museum of
– UC5879
Found at Ballas
Height: 21.7cm
Red polished pot,

Type P56A

Dated to Naqada I
Found at Ballas
Diameter: 21cm
A broken and repaired red

polished bowl, keeled.21
Type P29
21
Also known as a carinated vessel
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Petrie Museum of
UC4680
Found at Naqada
Height: 20.4cm
Red polished pot, with rim

chipped and repaired.
Type P57A

Boston – 13.5502
Dated to Naqada I-II
13cm
A convex redware bowl,

with a small flat base and a
polished interior. Found in
Mesaid Tomb M863 in
1913

Dated to Naqada II
Height: 5.2cm
Red polished pottery dish/bowl

(Nile Silt A); a pointed oval shape
(possibly slab formed), with a
flattened based. The dish is
burnished longitudinally on both
the exterior and interior surfaces
__________
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Rough faced (R-ware)

Rough ware22 (R-ware) was coarsely thrown or hand made, although this type of pottery
became streamlined over time. The first appearance of this type of pottery was during
Naqada IIa (SD38-45, c. 3500 BCE), according to the revised seriation studies. The earlier
pottery of the Badarian period (referred to as Rough brown (Class RB) was most probably
still being produced during the Naqada period, although it was classified as R-ware during
that period.

Boston – 13.5416
Dated to 3850-3300 BCE

13.5cm
Found in Tomb M775 at

Mesaid in 1913
Rough ware globular flask

(R-ware), with rim slightly
everted and a narrow neck,
and with a pointed base.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston –

13.5475
Dated to 3850-3000 BCE
Height: 15cm, diameter: 7.5cm
Found in Tomb M741 at Mesaid

in 1913
Rough ware slender jar (R-ware),

with rim slightly everted and with
a pointed base.
22
Also known as Rough faced
__________
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Dated to Naqada II
Found at Naqada
A rough pot, damaged on

one side. Type R67
Petrie Museum
of Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC4677
Found at
Naqada
Height: 5cm
A red clay,
smoothed, rough
ware bowl.
Type R34C

Found at Ballas
Height: 28.1cm
Rough ware, hand made pot,

Type R38A
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Wavy-handled / Wavy-ledged (W-ware)
The wide Wavy-ledged or Wavy-handled jars appeared during

Petrie’s Sequence Dating period at the beginning of SD35.
However, according to revised seriation studies, it is more likely
that this type of jar first appeared in SD45, i.e. Naqada IIc (c.
3400-3300 BCE).
The earliest examples were large, wide jars with attached ledge
handles. Over time, the jars changed shape, becoming much
slimmer with smaller handles, and later were shown with a painted
cord decoration.23
By Naqada IIIb2 (c. 3080-3050 BCE) the Wavy-handled jars had

evolved into Cylinder jars with a mere hint of decoration where the
handles were normally affixed. The "wavy-handle" design on the
upper body was produced by pinching the wet clay with the
fingers. The Cylinder jars continued in use in the early Dynastic
period, well into the Copper Age.
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology – UC6174

Wavy handled jar, pink ware, Type W3. Found at Abydos.
Height: 11.5in. Although this jar is dated to Naqada I (by the
Petrie Museum), it most probably dates to Naqada IIc.
23
Petrie notes that the crossed-lines decoration on the cylindrical jars was a later addition, a design possibly
derived from the knotted cord slings that formed a net to hold vessels for carrying or for hanging.
__________
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13.5127
Naqada II-III (c. 3500-3050
BCE)
Height: 30cm, diameter: 17cm
Found in Tomb 615, Mesaid in
1913
Tall, wavy-ledge handled jar

with plain everted rim, and a flat
base with a small ridge. The
orangish-pink surface has two
potmarks.

Found at Abydos
Dated to Naqada II
Height: 9.75cm
Wavy handled jar, pink

ware, Type W43B
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13.5187
Dated to Naqada III (c. 3200-3050
BCE or later)
Height: 29.5cm, width: 11cm
Found in Tomb K209, Qena in 1913
A wavy-handled beaker (W-ware),

with a rolled everted rim and a flat
base. The wavy-handles created a
continuous scalloped design on the
upper portion, while the surface has
diagonal cut marks on the entire
body.

Dated to Naqada III
Height: 25cm
Net-painted pottery vase with

raised wavy line around
circumference at shoulder;
everted rolled rim, and a flat
base.
__________
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Petrie Museum of
UC38161
Height: 22.7cm
Marl ware pottery

cylinder vase with
impressed cord
decoration around
circumference below
rolled rim.
Blackware
The following examples of Blackware were previously classified as Fancy form. It is thought
that this type of ware is dated to late Naqada II. It is not known whether this type of pottery
was manufactured in Egypt or was imported.
Petrie Museum of
– UC31604
Provenance unknown
Black polished ware,

Type F91L
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Boston – 97.73
Height: 11cm
Thought to be from Deir el-

Ballas
A small black ovoid jar with

small lug handles, with a
flat everted rim and traces
of polish.
Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, San Bernardino – El 02.004-200424

Dated to Naqada IIc-IId1
Height: average 7cm
Although this small double jar is generally classified as Fancy Form, it is very similar to
others which can be found in the Decorated ware category. The two jars do not connect on
the inside, each pot being self-contained.
24
Kaplan [2005] pp.60-61
__________
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______________________________

Height: 20.1cm, diameter: 14.5cm
Found in Badari Tomb 3832 (dated to Petrie SD62-66)25
A black ribbed pottery jar, with two perforated handles on the shoulder.
Type F80T
25
Brunton [1928] Plate XXXVIII
__________
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White cross-lined (C-ware)

White cross-lined ware was generally Red-polished pottery, decorated with designs in a pale
thick paint. Occasionally the designs were incised, the incisions then filled with white. The
decoration usually consisted of geometric designs, some of which imitated basket weave.
These designs were often interspersed with animal, bird and plant motifs, and appeared to
centre on the Nile valley flora and fauna.
The earliest depictions of boats, humans and animals are found on the White cross-lined
vessels. These early scenes have many similarities with those on the later Decorated ware
vessels and most probably represent themes and/or narratives well known to the Naqada
culture.
White cross-lined vessels made their appearance during Naqada 1c and appear to have
ceased at the end of Naqada IIa. There was a very slight overlap of this type of pottery with
that of D-ware. C-ware has been found as far south as Aswan, and as far north as Asyut,
which seems to be a fairly clear indication of the expansion of the early Naqada culture.
C-ware is placed to Sequence Dates 31-3426. Before this period (Naqada I) the graves
usually held only one item of pottery. The pottery has been classed according to the
characteristics of the designs.
Although the general motif underlying much of the ornamentation is that of basketwork, other
decorations are also shown on the pottery, such as:
• Lines, spots, rhombs, zigzags, parallel lines [mostly chevrons] and triangles – thought
to represent basketry or basket weave. Crossed-line triangles are different from the
chevrons in that the lines usually do not meet in the middle.
• Objects – these are difficult to identify. Some appear to be long sticks with short,
horizontal protrusions whilst others show a middle stem with square objects attached
to either side.
• Plants – the renditions of plants could be either utilitarian or have a magical

connotation. There have been eleven types of plants identified, including Peplis
portula, Lawsonia alba [henna], and the sont Acacia.
• Animals – these include crocodiles, scorpions, cattle, oryx, giraffe, ichneumon,

canines, goats, sheep, hippopotami, fish, and ibex.
• Boats – plans of boats painted on the interior of shallow dishes.
• Human figures – these are very rare. Some of the jars or dishes depict hunting
scenes, others portray confrontation, ritual or submission scenes.
The following examples have been grouped into the different types of decoration as
mentioned above.
26
Petrie [1920] pp.14-16
__________
Page 38
______________________________
Lines, triangles, chevrons, etc.

Height: 6.6cm,
diameter: 11.5cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-lined pottery disk,

Type C19B
Petrie Museum of
UC15302
Diameter of mouth: 7cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-lined keeled

(carinated) pot
Type C65D

Boston – 04.1818
Height: 12.5cm,
diameter: 18cm
Purchased in Egypt in 1904
White cross-lined bowl of

reddish Nile slip, and
decorated with linear white
chevrons and triangular
shapes
__________
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Petrie Museum of
UC15299Dated to
Naqada I
Diameter: 16.5cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-line pottery

bowl, Type C20D
Petrie Museum of
UC14285
Diameter: 12.2cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-lined pottery

bowl, Type C13c
Petrie Museum of
UC15310I
Diameter: 20.4cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-lined
“chalice” or pedestal
bowl, Type C40
__________
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______________________________

Boston – 21.2606
Height: 8.4cm,
diameter: 12.4cm
Provenance unknown
The White cross-lined bowl

has a concave profile and a
footed base. The decoration
of the interior consists of
seven cross-hatched
triangles (a basket pattern),
and the lower outer surface
has been painted a solid
white.

Length: 21.3cm
White cross-lined double dish, type C14
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – 13.3931

Length: 29.5cm
Found in Mesaid in 1913
White cross-lined double libation cups with burnished surface, decorated inside with a
basketweave pattern.
__________
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Found in Grave 1649, Badari
Approximate height: 5.1cm
White cross-lined pottery vessel. Three cups on a cruciform base, although one cup was
broken off in antiquity and the edges filed down. The other cup is broken off, displaying
rough edges. The cross-line design is in dark red paint on brown clay with a pink-buff slip.
Type C72K27

– 11.309
Dated to Naqada I to early
Naqada II
16.5cm
White cross-lined bowl, with

red ground, and a painted
design of dots and lines.
There are four sets of two
vertical lines at regular
intervals, a circle (or spiral)
on the base. The vessel’s
exterior is polished, it has
straight sides, a flat base and
a plain rim. Found in Tomb
41 at Mesaid in 1910
27
Brunton [1928] Plate LX
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Musée National du Louvre, Paris – Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology –

E2802928 UC15313
Found by Maspero at either Gebelein No provenance
or el-Amrah Height: 23cm
White cross-lined pot with chevrons, White cross-lined pottery vase with
zigzags, cross-lined triangles and chevrons and basketweave triangles.
straight lines Type C76L
28
__________
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______________________________
Objects:

Provenance unknown
Height: 28.5cm
White cross-lined pottery

vase, with a row of five objects
similar to long sticks with
horizontal protrusions (on the
top register). On the lower
register there is a row of what
appear to be axe handles with
heads affixed.
Type C76T

Provenance unknown
Height: 8cm, body diameter: 15.5cm,
mouth diameter: 10.5cm
White cross-lined keeled bowl, with

chevrons, and parallel lines. It also
displays a middle stem with square
objects attached to either side.
Type C66E
__________
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______________________________
This particular vessel was originally considered to be a fraudulent piece, however, it has
been assessed as being authentic according to the Cleveland Museum of Art Catalog of
Egyptian Art29.
Illustration from the David Rumsey website

White cross-lined bowl, dated to Naqada I-IIa, c. 4500-4000 BCE
Cleveland Museum of Art, Accession No. 1920.2008
Width: 18.1cm, height: 6.7cm
Possibly found at Gebelein
“This pottery vessel is the oldest object in the Egyptian galleries. The abstract decoration
features the sun on the side and a turtle underneath. The turtle was considered the enemy of
the sun god because it preferred the murky river bottom to the sunlight.”30

Provenance unknown
Diameter: 14.5cm
White cross-lined bowl, with square objects attached to a middle stem. Type C43S
29
Berman [1999], pp.103-104
30
Comments from the website of the Cleveland Museum of Art
__________
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Boats:

Provenance unknown. Length: 18.7cm
White cross-lined dish (or facsimile of a boat), Type C70E

Found at Mahasna. Length: 24.5cm
White cross-lined pottery dish, the interior of which is painted to resemble a boat.
Type C70M
31
Petrie [1921] Plate XXIII and Petrie [1920] Plate X and p.14
32
Petrie [1921] Plate XXIII, Petrie [1920] Plate XV
__________
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______________________________
Plants:
Two of the plants

on the White
cross-lined
pottery have
been tentatively
identified as
Henna [near
right] and Peplis
portula [far right]
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC15295I
Height: 5.5cm,
diameter: 11cm
Provenance unknown
White cross-lined
pottery bowl, with
chevrons and
“twisted seed pod”
patterns.
Type C44N
Petrie Museum of
– UC1532333
Provenance unknown
Height:7.7cm
White cross-lined
pottery carinated
[keeled] bowl, Type
C63H
33
Petrie [1921] Plate XXIII, and Petrie [1920] Plate XV and p.15
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Provenance unknown
Height: 23.8cm
This example is considered to be

an original pot, with modern
painting, although pots in the
British Museum and the Museum
of Fine Arts in Boston have
similar designs, and they are
considered to have authentic
decorations.
Type 76R34
34
Petrie [1920] Plate XI
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Provenance unknown
Height: 19.6cm
Cylindrical vase with White

cross-lined decorations including
depictions of two types of plants.
Type C76W35
35
Petrie [1920] Plate XV and p.15, and Petrie [1921] Plate XXIV
__________
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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

– 04.1816 – 04.1815
Dated to Naqada I Dated to Naqada I
Height: 27cm, diameter: 9cm Height: 21.8cm
Purchased in Egypt in 1904 Purchased in Egypt in 1904
White cross-lined jar made of red Nile White cross-lined jar with a flaring
silt, with a dark red slip. rim, made of red Nile silt, with a
It is decorated in a formal manner dark red slip. The decoration
with chevrons between lines and is composed of a series of stylised,
solid triangles. vertical plant motifs.
__________
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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – 11.306 Musée National du Louvre, Paris36
Dated to Naqada I Found by Maspero at Gebelein

Found in Tomb 41, Mesaid in 1910 White cross-lined pot with a flat
base and a flattened everted rim,
Slender bag-shaped redware jar, decorated with at least two different
with a plant design types of plants, and what
(possibly grain heads) painted appear to be twisted seedpods.
in very light yellow.
36
__________
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______________________________
Musèes Royaux d’Art et

d’Histoire, Brussels37
Inventory No. E.2986
Double vessels are found

throughout the Naqada
period, although the very
special form of this red
polished ceramic with white
decoration is known almost
only during Naqada I.
The function of this rarely

attested type of vessel is
uncertain, and the plants
represented have not yet
been identified with any
certainty.
Dated to Naqada I
Height: 20.9cm
37
Hendrickx [1994] pp. 20-21
__________
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______________________________
Animals:
Petrie Museum of
– UC15336
Provenance unknown
Height: 5.5cm
diameter: 14cm
White cross-lined
bowl, the interior
decorated with four
hippopotami and four
fish.
Type C4938
38
Petrie [1920] Plate XIX, Petrie [1921] Plate XXIII and p.15
__________
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______________________________
Petrie Museum of
– UC15337
Provenance unknown
Diameter: 15cm
White cross-lined bowl

decorated with four
hippopotami.
Type C49E39
39
Petrie [1920] Plate XVIII, Petrie [1921] Plate XXIII
__________
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Provenance unknown
Width: 30cm
The painting on this oval dish appears to represent a crocodile hunt.

The large crocodile that fills the middle is trapped by the hurdle-work below, apparently
controlled by two men at the right hand, probably connected to the rope with coiling end in
front of them. Above are three hippopotami, and what may be intended for splashes of water
caused by the thrashing crocodile.
Type C5M40
40
Petrie [1920] p.15 and Plate XX, Petrie [1921] Plate XVI
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Provenance unknown
Diameter: 14.7cm
[Above and right]

decorated with cattle
Type C9541
Berger Foundation, Switzerland42
A rounded Naqada I bowl with three

legs. It is decorated with five white
cross-lined hippopotami, who
appear to be feeding on some type
of river weed
41
Petrie [1920] Plate XVIII, Petrie [1921] Plate XXV
42
Photographs from the website of the Berger Foundation
__________
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______________________________

Provenance unknown
Height: 29cm,
diameter: 10.7cm
A tall pottery vase decorated

with two types of plants, water
and two animals.
Type C96E43
43
Petrie [1920] Plate XVII and p.15, Petrie [1921] Plate XXV
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Provenance unknown
Height: 21cm
A tall pottery vase decorated with

four dogs herding a large bovine,
trees, and an identifiable shape
between the trees. The boxed
area above one of the dogs may
be an enclosure for either the
bovine or the dogs.
Type C96L44
44
Petrie [1920] Plate XVII, Petrie [1921] Plate XXV
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Provenance unknown
Height: 23cm
White cross-lined vase (slightly

damaged by salt) decorated with
two (and a portion of a third)
long-necked animals (possibly
giraffe), and two long-tailed
animals.
Type C98N45
45
Petrie [1920] Plate XXV, Petrie [1921] Plate XVII and p.15
__________
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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford –

1895.482
White cross-lined beaker from Naqada
Height: 25.3cm
Gift of Flinders Petrie – Type C9246
Type C93M47 – A shallow bowl with a similar decoration to Ashmolean 1895.482 [above]
showing a Barbary sheep and four dogs
46
Petrie [1921] Plate XXV
47
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______________________________
Found in Tomb M26, Mesaid in 1910
A red-burnished bowl of Nile silt clay with the interior decorated in yellowish-white paint.
Three stylised hippopotami are arranged in a circle, surrounded by zig-zag lines, possibly
representing water. The centre of the bowl has a rosette design.
__________
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Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston –
03.1581
Height: 7cm,
diameter:
15cm
Purchased in
Egypt in 1903
White cross-lined
bowl with a
decoration of
hippopotami on
the interior.

Boston – 13.3935
Diameter: 15.7cm
Found in Tomb 787,
Mesaid in 1913

of brown Nile silt ware,
with red burnished
surface and elaborate
decoration in white of
gazelle combs, floral
motifs and triangular
basketweave motifs.
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Musées Royaux d’Art et

d’Histoire, Brussels
Provenance unknown.
Acquired in 1908 from an art
dealer
Black-topped, red polished

vessel with decorative
incisions [filled in with white]
The black-topped vessels were

created during the Badarian
period, although incisions on
pots (such as White cross-lined
vessels) appeared during the
Naqada I era. There is a
possibility that the original vase
was plain when first in use, but
was incised for its last owner.
It is interesting to note that the
dogs each wear a collar and
leash, confirming that these
animals, as early as Naqada I,
were already domesticated by
humans. The two dogs are
chasing a hare and a gazelle
[or addax]. The middle row are
most likely to be ibex while the
bottom row are thought to be
gazelles.
48
Photographs from the Global Egyptian Museum website
__________
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – Accession No. 12.182.14

White cross-lined beaker with a Nile river scene of plants, crocodiles and hippopotami

From Egypt, Northern Upper Egypt, Abadiya, Cemetery R, Tomb R40H
White cross-line jar with motifs of plants and crocodiles
__________
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Egyptian Museum, Cairo – JE70006

Found at Naga ed-Der
Cross-lined pot with white-slip crocodiles and hippopotami “floating” in the Nile. Several fish
are also shown, plus a plant or water weed.
Four views of the vase49
49
Bothmer [1948] Fig. 7, p.69
__________
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Musée Guimet, Lyon – Inv. 90000045

Length: 20cm
“A White cross-lined bowl depicting two crocodiles and plant motifs The
pictorial motifs of the Naqada I period concentrate mainly on the animals of
the Nile Valley, showing how closely these people’s ideas and way of life were
connected with the valley itself. The image on this bowl is of two crocodiles in
their natural habitat, indicated by the fronds of vegetation. The painting style
of the Naqada I period, which favours filling in spaces with cross-hatching,
here depicts the pattern of scales on the crocodiles’ armour very precisely,
and the fronds of vegetation have already moved away from the geometric
style.” 50
50
Schulz [1998] p.15 [photograph and text]
__________
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Rollins College Digital Collections – 10056751

A portion of a ceramic White cross-lined bowl with a hippopotamus and cross-hatched
triangles. Provenance unknown
Animals in 3 dimensions:
Animals shown in three-dimensional modelled figures, on White cross-lined pottery of the
Naqada I period, are very rare. These figures were distributed around the exterior of the
bowl, and often separated by painted patterned bands. The interiors were also decorated
with simple geometric designs.
View 1 of the Manchester Museum bowl
51
From the website of Rollins College
__________
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View 2 – Manchester Museum, Manchester – Accession No. 5069

Outside diameter: 22cm
Found at el-Mahasna
A donation from the Egypt Exploration Fund
A red pottery bowl with four, separately modelled, hippopotamus figures attached to the rim.
White cross-lined patterns decorate both the bowl and the hippopotami. Two of the
creatures are facing from the right, the other two facing from the left.
Close-up of one of the hippopotami,

showing the decoration, including the painted feet
__________
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British Museum, London – EA63408

Dated to Naqada I and found at Matmar. Gifted to the British Museum by Guy Brunton.
Photograph courtesy of Gill Russell52
The rim of this pottery vessel, dating to the Naqada I phase, is decorated with five three-
dimensional hippopotamus figures. Such riverine motifs are typical of the decoration of
vessels at this stage of the Predynastic period, although are usually shown in two
dimensions rather than three dimensional figures. On this particular bowl, there is also a
crocodile on the rim (in low relief) which has been modelled from the pot itself.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo – JE38284 [CG18804]53

Thought to be from Gebelein and acquired by the Museum in 1906
52
2005
53
Tiradritti [1998] p.35 [photograph and text]
__________
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______________________________
The above photograph shows a white painted, red-polished bowl bearing geometric
decoration, with a flat rim and rounded base. Four diagonal bands of interlocking white
chevrons separate four modelled figures of painted crocodiles.
These clay models have been attached diagonally to the exterior surface of the bowl, with
their noses almost touching the rim. The spines of the animals are shown in relief, and there
are spots of white on their backs. Their exposed sides, the edges of their tails and claws are
also highlighted. The four reptiles are separated from one another by diagonal bands
composed of a diamond pattern. Unfortunately, one of the crocodiles is missing, and only
one of the other three is complete. The interior pattern consists of two chequered triangles
separated by a band, which is also chequered, gradually diminishing towards the centre of
the bowl.
Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston –
04.1814
Height: 16cm
Purchased in Egypt
in 1904
White cross-lined jar

of red Nile silt clay
with a linear plant
decoration. The
applied figures of
two cows and a calf
appear on the rim.
Detail of the applied figures
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Purchased in Luxor in 1903 (said to be
from Naqada)

White cross-lined beaker with hippopotami
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Human figures:
Very few of the White cross-lined pots show elaborate figurative decoration. Most of the
scenes that are portrayed depict illustrations of either hunting, submission, combat, or
confrontation.

Illustration showing two sides of the jar
The upper white section indicates the missing section of the pot when it was discovered54
54
It has since been restored
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Provenance unknown
12cm
A tall vase depicting two

human figures and plants. It
shows a confrontational scene
between a short-haired man
and a long-haired man. They
both appear to be wearing
penis gourds, although of
different shapes. The smaller
male appears to be attached,
by a cord, to the larger male
who is seen in a “dancing
figure” pose. It has been
suggested that this scene
depicts men from two different
tribal units, one being the
captive of the other.
The vase also shows plants

as well as triangular
ornamentation
Type C100M55
55
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Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels

Purchased in Luxor and dated to Naqada Ic-IIa
On this Red polished vase, there are eight males. The neck of the vase is decorated with
seven horizontal bands and from an eighth band hangs a row of [possible] water lines.
The two larger figures wear

feathers in their hair, and large
penis gourds, a feature known
from contemporary sculpture
and which could also be a
symbol of power. The other
six figures are not shown with
any accoutrements, nor are
they shown with arms
(possibly these are bound
behind their backs). Four are
roped together (two by two) at
the neck, the rope being held
by one of the larger figures.
The other two smaller figures
are depicted as though they
are watching a scene of
submission.57
There is a tall plant motif that may be a stylised palm tree, while the smaller object could
represent an animal skin shield. It is difficult to discern the meaning of the scene(s) depicted
on this jar, although the design might represent a military victory, a religious ritual, or some
obscure political symbolism.
56
Schulz [1998] p.15, Fig. 12
57
Line drawing from the website of Francesco Raffaele
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The two largest figures are shown with their arms raised above their heads, with their palms
turned inwards. This gesture is common in the Naqada II period, but is used mainly for
female figures (sometimes called Dancing Goddess figures). However, men portrayed in this
stance, as well as those wearing the distinctive feather head-dress, can be seen in the rock
art of the Eastern Desert.

Height: 6.2cm, diameter 15.6cm
A shallow White cross-lined bowl of red Nile silt clay, which has been hand polished. The
decoration shows a scene of two men [wearing penis gourds] using a net to capture a
crocodile. The set of three wavy lines may represent water. Found in Abydos Tomb K in
1911 by W M F Petrie58. Accession date of the Museum: 1 October 1911
58
Petrie [1921] Plate XXV (C100E)
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National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen – Inv. 548359

Purchased in Egypt
A slender vase with a curved profile. The design includes (near the top), two male goats (or
antelope or oryx) with long horns, one of which has bent legs and appears to be eating from
a stylised plant. There are also two human figures, a chevron of five angled lines
descending from the lip of the vase, and three goats depicted near the base of the jar. The
vase has been reconstructed from 5 fragments.
59
Blinkenberg and Johansen [undated] p.3 and Plate 7, Figs. 9 and 10
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Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow – Inventory No. l.1.a 4777
Height: 4.2cm, length: 22.3cm, width: 15.8cm
Also known as the ‘Moscow bowl’, it is decorated with a unique hunting scene: a naked man
in a bird mask and a head-dress made of feathers holds a bow with arrows in his left hand
and the leashes of four dogs in the right one. Two of the dogs are shown with round objects
at the base of their necks, which are very similar to those portrayed on Types C92 and
C93M. Stylised plants are also shown, as well as triangular basket-weave shapes around
the rim of the bowl.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Accession No. 12.182.15
Acquired in 1912
A White cross-lined bowl with a scene of a man hunting hippopotami. Dated from late
Naqada I to early Naqada II.
Museo Egizio di Torina – Inv. 182360
A double White cross-lined vase with geometric designs and hunting scenes. The men are
portrayed with elaborate head-gear and appear to be carrying spears.
60
Photo from the website of Francesco Raffaele
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York61

This bowl shows a man on a boat (similar to an outrigger canoe), as well as flora and fauna
of the Nile including a crocodile and a hippopotamus.
Jar found in Abydos Tomb U-23962

Dated to Naqada Ic (c. 3500 BCE)
The decoration on this cylinder jar is thought to be a very early “smiting scene”, with captives,
and a figure with raised arms (perhaps in submission)
61
Photograph from the website of Ancient Egypt Co.
62
Colour photograph from the website of Francesco Raffaele, line drawing from Rohl [2002]
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Decorated ware (D-ware)
The most uniform figurative pots of the Predynastic period were those developed in Naqada
II, the designs being the most consistent of all Predynastic pottery. In general, the red ochre
(iron oxide) paint was applied to the buff-coloured Marl A63 clay, and had the same shape,
motifs, decoration and manufacture regardless as to where the pottery was found, although
there were varied combinations of its relatively limited repertoire of images. This similarity
seems to imply a common culture and a socio-political uniformity – ultimately leading to
unification under a single ruler.
“This is the most important class ... for the second period64 ... It may be
divided into three stages, well defined and separate. From SD31 to 39 there
are a few examples; ... rush-band pattern ... marbling ... and chequer. All
these are very rare and sporadic; yet there can be no question as to the early
date.
“At [SD] 40 there is a sudden burst of new types, the spiral, aloe, and deer, all
appearing at once. ... The ship type begins at [SD] 45, and two fresh types
come in later, at SD46, the flamingo and the row of hills.
“The end of these naturalistic designs is almost as sudden as their beginning.

There was a diminution after SD60, and with [SD] 63 they entirely disappear.
This change was not only a negative one, of the decay and loss of types, but
some new styles came in.”65
During the latter part of the Naqada II period, D-ware pottery spread gradually northwards.
The superiority of the southern pottery may have made it more attractive to the northern
groups, particularly as the Marl clay could be found only in the south. The pottery was
probably distributed through an already developed trade and transportation system utilising
the River Nile.
It has been suggested66 that the distinct styles of D-ware were associated with different
workshops: for example, Hememieh produced Marl jars of slightly different proportions and
decoration from those in the Naqada region. The workshop(s) in the southern region
produced symmetrical placement of the decoration on opposite sides with similar motifs,
while the pottery of the middle region used an asymmetrical decoration.
Many of the Decorated ware vessels were discovered as grave goods67 although they were
not as common as other types of pottery found in Predynastic graves of the Naqada II period.
Naqada IIa sees the beginning of the Decorated ware, increasing in production during
Naqada IId1, and then decreasing in Naqada IId2, to its final phase at the beginning of
Naqada III.68
Refer to Part 5, Appendix II, for comments on the various elements portrayed on D-ware.
63
Marl clay requires a higher firing temperature than other clays, and in much more controlled conditions, so it is
thought that the use of this clay represented a technological advance
64
Naqada II
65
Petrie [1920] p.16
66
Kaplan [2005] p.86
67
Although some pots were purchased in Egypt, with no provenance
68
Crowfoot Payne in The Followers of Horus [1992] pp.189-191, Figs. 3-5
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Precursors of writing?
It has been suggested that the motifs on the Decorated ware pottery were antecedents of the
hieroglyphic script:
“... the mystery of the emergence of hieroglyphic writing is as intriguing as its

beauty ... Around the boats river waters may be depicted as zigzag lines
resembling the zigzag hieroglyph used to write n (from Nun, the Primeval
Waters, or a related word) or in triplicate to write mu ‘water.’ Above appear
rows of triangles joined together like the rounder forms of the double
hieroglyph dju ‘mountain’ or the triple hump hieroglyph for khaset ‘desert
hills’.” …
…“Without warning, the use of signs changes. This happens at the same time
that a separate lifestyle in parts of the Nile Delta to the north disappears under
the ceramic and material traditions of the Nile Valley to the south. The
disjointed symbols of prehistoric pottery now suddenly fall out of their figural
compositions into a new framework where sound achieves equal status with
sight.”69
However, it has also been suggested that the images on D-ware are not to be considered as
writing, but as a preliminary graphic system preceding the development of writing.
The following statement suggests a parallel to similar themes denoting divine kingship in
Naqada II, therefore placing the imagery on the D-ware pots within a religious and political
context:
“The earliest decorated ware appears in graves at the beginning of Naqada II

(c. 3500 BC) and remains a distinctive feature of the Upper Egyptian funerary
ceramic repertoire until early Naqada III (c. 3200 BC). Some examples are
decorated with patterns of dots or spirals, in imitation of stone vessels. Others
bear figurative decoration: flora, fauna (principally birds, but also animals such
as crocodiles), and more complex ritual scenes involving human figures in
distinctive postures and ships with many oars. This latter type of decoration –
probably the output of a few specialist workshops – is rich in symbolism and
must have conveyed some ideological meaning both to those who created the
vessels and those who received them. We cannot be certain of their precise
significance, but they seem to hint at the relationship between the human,
natural and supernatural spheres.”70
Because of the lack of knowledge of the people and their belief system(s) of the Predynastic
period, there are many unanswered questions. Did the more elaborate designs on the pot
signify the high status of the owner? Was each pot made for a particular person? Was this
person’s life history depicted on the pot? In partial answer to these questions, the D-ware
seems to have served an elite group for a specific or special purpose.
“It is probable that they were meant to confer special benefits on the dead.
Perhaps the often-repeated motifs were simply meant to ensure a continuation
of spiritual life in an abundant Nilotic environment: or in a more sophisticated
way, they may be spells recording life, death and guaranteed resurrection”71
The images on the Decorated ware are also reflected on the Gebelein Cloth, the painted wall
of Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, votive artefacts found in Nekhen, and petroglyphs of the
Eastern desert.
69
Forman and Quirke [1996] p.10
70
Wilkinson [2001] pp.33-34
71
Adams in Hoffman, The First Egyptians [1988] p.55
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“When designs were made on flat surfaces, they were usually painted in a
rectilinear, sequential formal order. However, on the Decorated ware ... the
motifs were ordered so that the vessel would need to be rotated to enable the
viewer to “unfold” the images on the pot.”72
Find spots of D-ware:
The maps above show the greatest concentration of the D-ware finds, whilst the table below
lists the majority find-spots.
Abadiya el-Kubaniya-south Matmar

Abusir el-Meleq Gebel el-Tarif Mediq
Abydos Gebel Silsila Mesaid
Armant Gebelein Mustagedda
Aswan Gerza [Gerzah] Nag el-Deir [Naqa ed-Deir]
Badari Hammamiya Naqada
Ballas Haraga Nubia
Dakka Hierakonpolis Qena [Nag el-Hai]
el-Adaima Hu [Diospolis Parva] Semaina [Hu]
el-Amrah Mahasna Tarkhan
D-ware with lines:
72
Davis [1992] p.44
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Boston – 13.3941
Dated to Naqada IIb

Height: 7.5cm,
diameter: 8.5cm
Found in Tomb 771 at
Mesaid in 1913
A Decorated ware jar

with cream-pink
surface, decorated
with encircling
horizontal bands of
wavy lines in red.
The lines are also on
the rim and base.
The jar is a squat,
ovoid type with
tubular lug handles.
Petrie Museum of
– UC36218
Height: 6cm, width:

8.4cm
Decorated ware
pottery vase, with a
flat-topped rim, two
perforated tubular
handles – a squat
imitation of a stone
prototype. The
decoration consists of
plum red paint on
buff/pink ware
showing wavy lines,
separated by a band
of S-signs. These
signs are also found
on the base of the
pot.
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Provenance unknown
Height: 9cm
Decorated ware jar, with

concentric wavy lines
Type D8G

Unknown provenance
Height: 11cm
Decorated barrel-shaped
pottery vase with plum red
paint on cream/buff ware. Flat-
topped rim (chipped) with two
perforated tubular handles and
a flat base. Decoration shows
horizontal bands of wavy lines
at top and on the base, with a
central panel with criss-cross
wavy lines plus S-signs
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Found at Ballas

29cm
Decorated ware pot with lug

handles, small base and
everted rim. The decoration
shows horizontal bands of
wavy lines at top and base,
with a central panel with
criss-cross wavy lines.

Provenance unknown
Height: 14.5cm
Decoration shows a central panel

with criss-cross wavy lines with
either S-signs and Z-signs. Near
the base are two types of lines,
both horizontal and vertical, while
the wavy lines at the top are on a
slightly curved angle.
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Boston – 13.3951
Dated to Naqada IId1

11.5cm
Found at Mesaid in Tomb

773
A Decorated ware jar with

four vertical registers of
red wavy lines. Wavy
lines also decorate the
handles and the rim, while
straight crossed lines
decorate the base. The
vessel is a shoulder type,
globular, with a flat base,
a flat everted rim and
pieced lug handles.

13.3925

Height: 13.5cm
Found in Mesaid Tomb 833 in

1913.
Decorated ware; globular

shoulder type, tubular lug
handles, flat everted rim, small
flat base; pinkish surface with 4
panels of wavy lines in red, and
a spiral on the base.
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16.6cm
Thought to have been found

at Abadiyeh
The decoration on this pot

combines two different types
of lines. The straight lines,
are reminiscent of White
cross-lined ware, although
the wavy lines in vertical rows
can be seen on many other
Decorated ware vessels. The
pot has two sets of handles,
lug and wavy-ledged.
Type D2K

13.3921
Found in Tomb 864 at Mesaid

by the Harvard University-
Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
in 1913.
An ovoid Decorated ware jar

with four vertical sets of red
wavy lines. The vessel is a
shoulder type with tubular lug
handles with a flat base.
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Height: 15.5cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated ware pottery jar

with wavy-ledge and cylinder
handles. The design appears
to emulate a geometric
basketweave pattern.
Type D13D

Height: 8.4cm,
diameter: 7.5cm
Found at Naqada
This Decorated ware pot, with

lug handles and flat rim
shows a design of plum-red
painted lines with a kink in the
middle. There are two main
theories regarding the
meaning of this pattern: that it
represents birds in flight, or it
symbolises the ripples in
water.
Type D15
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Height: 20cm
Provenance unknown
The pot has two sets of

handles, lug and wavy-ledged.
The wavy lines are in vertical
sections while the wavy-
ledged handle edges are
outlined in paint.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC10729
Dated to late
Naqada II
Height: 9.5cm,
width: 16.25cm
Found at Gerza
A squat, Decorated
ware pot, with
horizontal wavy
lines under one
handle, vertical
lines under the
other.
Type D68M
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[Above and right]

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology –
UC36234
Dated to Naqada III
Height: 7.8cm, length: 17.4cm

Provenance unknown
Buff/pink ware pottery bowl (Marl A), flared with

a straight, slightly incurved rim, with a flat base.
The interior has a painted design in plum red
paint: three vertical wavy lines in two crossed
bands divide the interior into quarters, which
are filled with horizontal wavy lines. Below
these wavy lines are what appear to be random
spots and splodges.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC6354
Provenance
unknown
Diameter: 14cm
Possibly dated to
Naqada III
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D-ware with mottled designs:

The mottled Decorated ware pottery vases are generally dated to Naqada IId1. They are
thought to have been made to imitate the more valuable stone pots, which were usually
made of breccia, mottled limestone or porphyry.
British Museum,
London73
Found at Hu
Dated to early
Naqada IId1
A squat Decorated
ware vase with a
mottled pattern
painted in red.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC30215
Height: 8cm,
diameter: 13.2cm
Decorated buff ware

pot with a rounded
base, two horizontal
perforated tubular
handles on the
shoulder, a
constricted neck and
flat-topped rim.
Decoration of
overlapping, arched
crescents in plum
paint over the entire
surface.
73
Photo from the website of Ancient Egypt Co.
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Height: 9cm,
diameter: 12cm
Provenance unknown
A Decorated ware pottery

squat jar, flat topped, with
two perforated tubular
handles for suspension
and a round base. The
design, in plum-red paint
on buff/pink ware (Marl A),
is of overlapping loops
over the entire surface of
the vessel, which is also
repeated on the rim and
the handles.
Below, for comparison, is an example of a stoneware jar:

Width: 24cm
Dated to Naqada II
A squat red and white breccia jar, with two cylindrical handles
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D-ware with spirals:

Spirals on D-ware first occurred during Naqada IIb, on slim, ovoid pots. During Naqada IIc
these clockwise spirals decorated squat jars with lug handles. In some instances, the spirals
were painted together with short wavy lines which sometimes appear to be linking the spirals.
The spiral74 decoration ceased in Naqada IId2.

13.3929
Dated to Naqada Iib
Height: 12.4cm
Found in Tomb M645, Mesaid

in 1913
An ovoid Decorated ware jar

with tubular lug handles,
decorated with spirals on the
body of the jar, with wavy lines
on the lug handles and the rim.

13-3-1069a
Dated to Naqada Iib
A fairly tall ovoid Decorated ware

vessel, with a small, flat base, with
a flat everted rim, and two tubular
lug handles. The decoration
consists of two extremely large
spirals with three wavy lines in
between the spirals. The design
is similar to Petrie, Type D36G.
Found in Tomb 764 at Mesaid by

the Harvard University-Museum of
Fine Arts Expedition in 1913.
74
On the ivory tags found in Abydos tomb U-j, spirals were interpreted to represent the numeral 100
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Petrie Museum of
UC6323
Unknown provenance
Height: 10.5cm
Decorated ware jar with

a large spiral on one
side and Naqada plant
on the other.
Type D31F

Boston – 13.3944
Height: 6.5cm,
diameter: 9cm
A squat Decorated ware

jar with an ovoid profile, a
round base, flat everted
rim and tubular lug
handles. The decoration
on the cream surface
consists of red spirals
and wavy lines above
and over the handles.
Found in Tomb 547 at

Mesaid in 1913, by the
Harvard University–
Museum of Fine Arts
Expedition.
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Manchester Museum
Accession No. 3120
Height: 14cm, width: 19cm
Found at Naqada75
View of rim
75
Petrie & Quibell [1896], Plate XXXV, No. 67c (D67c)
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Boston – 13.3926
Height: 15cm,
diameter: 19cm
Found in Tomb M549,

Mesaid, in 1913
A squat, ovoid
Decorated ware jar of
pale marl clay with two
tubular lug handles;
round base; flat,
everted rim with two
chips; cream surface
decorated with spirals
and connecting wavy
lines in brownish paint,
cross hatched pattern
on rim.

Dated to late Naqada II
Width: 13.5cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated ware squat jar, with spirals and tethered wavy lines.
Type D67D, Petrie SD52-58
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Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston –
11.318
Height: 16.8cm,
diameter: 23.5cm
Found in Tomb
M58, Mesaid in
1910.
A globular
Decorated ware jar
with lug handles.
Some of the
painted spirals are
connected with
thick wavy lines.
Roemer- und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim76

Inventory No. 0008
Purchased in Cairo in 1907 by William Pelizaeus
76
From the website of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus Museum
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D-ware in the shape of birds:

Pots in the shape of birds are usually categorised as Fancy Form [see Part 1], but these
particular examples have been included in the D-ware classification due to their decoration.

Dated to Naqada II
Length: 10cm
Bird-shaped Decorated ware pot with concentric rings of cross-hatching.
Type F69Q

Dated to Naqada II
Length: 15.8cm
Provenance unknown
A Decorated ware vessel in the shape of a duck. The symbols on this pot are thought to be
Hathor signs which can also be seen as standards/ensigns on some of the D-ware pottery
with boat designs
77
Petrie [1920] Plate XVIII
78
Petrie [1920] Plate XXIV, Petrie [1921], p.10
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Dated to Naqada II
Length: 10.4cm
Provenance unknown
Similar to Petrie’s Fancy Form Type F69F
British Museum,London – EA 58340

Dated to Naqada IIb-d
Height: 6.5cm, dia. 7.4cm
Small globular jar of marl pottery with a round base, made into the form of a bird by the
addition of a head and tail, decorated all over the body with horizontal wavy lines in red-
brown paint. Purchased from the MacGregor Collection
79
Petrie [1920] Plate XXIV, Petrie [1921] p.10
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Musée National
du Louvre,
Paris80 E10838
A Decorated
ware vessel in
the shape of a
bird with a fan-
like tail. Found
in Upper Egypt.
It has several
large spirals,
and straight
lines
See entry in
Forged
Decorations
Royal Athena Galleries Auction House81

Length: 10.5cm
Dated to Naqada II
From a private collection in Basel, originally in the MacGregor Collection
A Decorated ware container in the shape of a bird. On one side it shows three women
holding hands, the one on the left holding a fan or a fan-shaped plant while the one on the
left has her left hand on her hip. There is a small fan-shaped plant near the bird’s head (on
the reverse side) plus three lines indicating water above the tail.
80
81
Photos of both sides of this vessel are from the Royal Athena website
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82
The decoration of both sides of the pot can be seen on the pommel of the flint fish-tail gold-
handled knife in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Inventory No. JE34210 and is almost identical
to that on the bird-shaped pot.
82
From the Suppressed Histories website
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D-ware with a spout:

Also classified as Fancy Form, this pot with a spout is similar to Petrie’s FF58.

Acquired in 1910
Accession No. 10.176.126
A rimmed, spouted vessel showing fan-shaped plants, unidentifiable markings near the base,
series of short, straight lines and either flamingos or ostriches [or both] on the upper sectiont
of the vessel.
83
Photo from the ancient.egypt.co.uk website
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D-ware in the shape of boats:

Although these boat-shaped vessels84 are similar to those found in the White cross-lined
pottery section, the two below are both dated to Naqada IIc85

Height: 11cm, width: 16.4cm, length: 37cm
Purchased at Luxor in 1903
A clay model boat with high pointed prow and stern, pierced from side to side (for suspension
purposes?). The exterior is painted with dark vertical stripes (perhaps indicating oars), and a
solid central section which is similar to that shown on the boats in Tomb 100.

Length: 35.7cm, height: 5.5cm to 6.5cm, width: 14cm
Thought to have been found at Diospolis Parva (Hu)
Decorated pottery model boat with two sets of stripes separated by a solid block, with
suspension holes at both prow and stern. Similar to Petrie’s Type D81d.
84
Refer to Petrie [1896] Plate XXXVI
85
According to Crowfoot Payne [1992] p.189, Fig.3
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D-ware with water and hills:

The Decorated ware pottery featuring only water (wavy lines) and hills/mountains (solid
triangles) has been (generally) dated to Naqada IId1.
Musée National du
Louvre, Paris86
A Decorated ware jar

with three sets of hills
painted around the
circumference of the
vessel.
It is thought to have
been found at el-Amra

99.714
From Abadiya, Tomb B30.
Excavated by W M F Petrie during

the 1898-1899 season. 87
A squat Decorated ware pot, with

rolled everted rim and a flat base.
The geometrical design on the
shoulder in red paint is of four
continuous wavy lines and a row
of hills beneath.
86
87
Refer to Petrie’s Type D59b
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Oriental Institute, University of Chicago – OIM E10759

Dated to Naqada II
Purchased in Luxor 1910
“This convex jar has a flat base, low everted rim, and three vertical, roughly triangular
pierced lugs. Below the neck is a continuous row of solid triangles. On the should are two
large swags of grouped wavy lines, one painted around and over a lug, the other opposite,
between the other two lugs. Two long pairs of wavy lines curve down from the triangles and
the swags onto the vessel body, enclosing areas that contain rows of small zigzags (or Z-
signs) and short rows of triangles that are also painted below the lines. If the interpretations
of long wavy lines as water and triangles as rocky cliffs along the Nile is correct, this
representation could be explained as a scene in the First Cataract, well known to the
Naqada-period Egyptians. The row of triangles at the top would then show the rocky valley
edge, while the shorter ones would indicate rocky islands. Narrow zigzags could represent
bars of sand that appear in the cataract on and among the islands. The long wavy lines
would then show narrow braided channels, while the great swags would be the rushing
waters of the cataract.” 88
88
Teeter [2011] p.186
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Dated to Naqada IId
Purchased from Rev. Greville John Chester, 1891
Marl pottery jar with flat base, sides expanding to a rounded shoulder, three pierced
triangular lug handles are applied around upper shoulder, rim is rounded. The upper body is
decorated in red paint with a band of solid triangles below the rim, three semi-circular
arrangements of concentric wavy lines between the handles, and below each handle a short
band of z-motifs with a band of solid triangles below. Lower body is undecorated, trimmed
with knife.

Boston – 03.1897

16cm
Purchased at Luxor in 1903
(said to be from Naqada)
Decorated ware globular

shoulder jar with a flattened
rim, a flat base with three
vertical lug handles. The
decoration consists of four
bands of wavy lines, one
band of triangles and three
bands of wavy lines, all in
red paint.
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Provenance unknown
Decorated ware pot, with three small projections (lugs) on the shoulder for suspension. The
geometrical design on the shoulder is in red paint of three continuous wavy lines and a row
of hills beneath.
Carnegie Museum
of Natural History
Height: 20.5 cm,

diameter: 12 cm
A Decorated ware
vessel, showing
concentric wavy
lines and a row of
hills
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Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC6295
Height: 27cm
Provenance
unknown
Decorated pottery
jar, with a series of
semi-circular wavy
lines depending
from concentric
rings of lines,
below which is a
row of hills.
Type D59P89
Petrie Museum of
UC6336
Provenance unknown
Height: 8.5cm
Decorated ware jar,

showing wavy lines
encircling the pot and a
row of hills.
Type D9M
89
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXV
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D-ware with water, hills, vegetation and other signs:
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna – Inventory No. 8459

Found at Gebelein
This full-bellied vessel, made from light-coloured clay, has a small base and narrow rim. On
the shoulder are four triangular handles in pairs. The upper part of the body is decorated
with red paint. The space in between each pair of handles is filled by a fan-type plant or tree.
Checkerboard motifs may indicate fencing, while the wavy lines are water and the mountains
or hills are depicted as solid triangles.
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Petrie Museum of
UC6343
Height 19.5cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated ware jar,

illustrated with a
concentric ring of
mountains just below
the lip of the vessel
under which are wavy
lines encircling the pot.
S-signs and plants are
also depicted.
Type D36H
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D-ware depicting the Naqada plant and other signs:
Petrie Museum of
– UC6344
Height: 16.8cm,
diameter: 12.2cm
The decoration on this

jar shows a Naqada
plant with an elongated
base.
Type D36G

Dated to Naqada II
Provenance unknown
A barrel-shaped vase, with a

flat-topped rim, two perforated
tubular handles and some
surface pitting from salt. The
plum red paint design on
buff/pink ware is that of the
Naqada plant, which has a
pointed base. The decoration
also shows some S-signs.
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British Museum, London

EA30919
Dated to Naqada IIc
Found in Grave B15, Hu
Similar to Petrie’s Type D36A
Donated by the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899
Ovoid marl pottery jar with small flat base, two pierced cylindrical handles on the shoulder
and a ledge rim; decorated in red paint with one large Naqada plant on each side with Z-
motifs and wavy lines below. Wavy lines are painted above and over the handles; and below
the handles on each side is a fan-shaped bush motif.
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National Archaeology Museum of Saint-Germain-en-Laye90

Inventory No. MAN77718.a01
Dated to Naqada II
This view shows a Naqada plant, a fan-shaped plant and part of a row of Z- or S-signs
90
Photo from Réunion des musées nationaux
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Inventory No. 99.4.137
From Tomb R40H, Abadiya
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899
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Other views of Inventory No. 99.4.137
Museo Archeologico
Nazionale/Museo
Egizio, Florence
Inventory No.
8765:091
Height: 16.9cm,
diameter: 9.9cm
A vase with a
neckless, oval body
and a barely separate
lip. On the shoulder
are three triangular,
horizontally pierced
lugs. The vase carries
a painted decoration
consisting of three
aloe plants alternating
with three oblique
lines of S-signs on the
body and six rings (of
water) on the
shoulder.
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D-ware depicting animals and/or birds:

21.2631
Dated to Naqada IId1 (c. 3300-

3250 BCE)
Height: 13cm,
diameter: 9.5cm
A Decorated ware shoulder jar

with a small flat base, a flat
everted rim, and tubular lug
handles. It is decorated with a
row of birds (most probably
flamingos), a triangular object (a
fan?), groups of wavy and straight
lines, and a palm branch.
This jar is thought to have been

found at Mesaid.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC6339
Height: 33cm
A tall, almost
cylindrical
Decorated ware jar,
Type D78F.
It is decorated with
flamingos, oryx,
hills and possibly a
fence Or an animal
trap.
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Detail of the crocodile

Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels91
This Decorated ware vase shows a very large crocodile92 vertically displayed, infilled with
wavy lines as though indicating water. Above this is a scorpion. Near the top of the vase,
between two sets of wavy lines under a row of hills, is a row of bull’s heads.
Detail of the bull’s heads
91
Photograph courtesy of JD
92
It should be noted that the hippopotamus ceased to be used as a decoration on D-ware, although the crocodile
was still being portrayed
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Robert V. Fullerton Art

Museum, San
Bernardino –
El 01.062.199893
Height: 12.7cm
This small cylindrical

pot has a flat base, two
lug handles, and
everted rim with a flat
top. The decoration
covers the whole jar:
one full row of eleven
flamingos with wavy
lines top and bottom.
The base is also
decorated with three
wavy lines in a circle.
Petrie Museum of
UC6298
Height: 13cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated pottery jar

with two cylindrical
handles showing water
and flamingos
Type D53G 94
93
Kaplan [2005] pp.100-101
94
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Musée National du Louvre, Paris – E28023

This jar has concentric wavy lines in three bands, two of which are separated by a line of
addax encircling the vessel.
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Medelshavsmuseet, Stockholm – MM 10316

Height: 22cm, diameter 23.7cm, rim: 10cm, base: 7.2cm
Dated to Naqada II
Acquired from W. Hasselman
Sequence Date (SD) 46-53 and Type 51M from Petrie’s Corpus
A vessel with an inverted piriform body, modelled rim, tapering to a narrow flat base and
three triangular string-hole handles. Drab, polished surface with an exterior decoration in
maroon. It features, in between the rim and handles: three semi circular, concentric wavy
lines. One wavy line circumscribes the neck. Below is a band of flamingos, interrupted in two
places by four, respectively five hills. The decoration in applied on the widest part of the
vessel.
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Decorated ware jar with three triangular handles, depicting rows of flamingos and wavy lines
representing water.
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Decorated pottery jar type D51M
Decorated ware vessel showing a line of flamingos and multiple wavy lines, indicating a large
body of water
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Height: 35.5cm
Dated to Naqada IId
Purchased from Mohammed Mohassib, 1926
Shape and decorative arrangement similar to Decorated ware D51K in Petrie’s Corpus of
Prehistoric Pottery (1921). Six wavy lines encircle the shoulder just below the neck.
Hanging down from them on opposite sides of the body are two semi-circular arrangements
of wavy lines, called ‘festoons’. Between the festoons, two pairs of wavy lines run down the
pot, crossing each other and arching below the festoons. In the space above the crossing of
the lines on each side is a figure of an antelope, identified as an addax based on the twisted
horns. Both face left and have slender bodies, bandy legs and short upturned tails. A bush
motif and a series of vertical s-motifs complete the decoration.
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Other view:
__________
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National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Accession No. 740-D2
Found in Diospolis Parva (Hu)
Presented by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899
A D-ware pot showing concentric circles of wavy lines, indicating water, and a row of what
are thought to be alternatiing ostriches (with upraised wings) and flamingos.
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Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden95

Inventory No. F 1901/9.93 [F1949/5.4]
Found near Luxor

Possibly dated to Naqada Iid1
Height: 15.5cm
An ovoid D-ware vessel showing a row of hills, a row of flamingos and ostriches (with
upraised wings) around the lower part of the pot. Several rows of hills are shown under wavy
lines depicting water with swathes of wavy lives perhaps depicting a large lake or body of
water.
95
Photograph from the Global Egyptian Museum website
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University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology96

Found at Hu
Presented to the University of Pennsylvania Museum by W M F Petrie
A painted ceramic jar of mid-Naqada II date, found at Hu. It is decorated with two series of
hills and a row of flamingos on the body as well as wavy water lines and mountains near the
lip of the vessel.
Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC6297
Height: 16.5cm
Provenance
unknown
Dated to Naqada
IId1
Decorated pottery
jar, with water lines
and a full line of
flamingos.
Type D51M97
96
Gordan-Rastelli [2004] p.40
97
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Dated to Naqada II
Found in Tomb B93, Abadiya
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund 1898-1899
“This ovoid jar with a flat base has a short neck and everted rim. Three pierced, triangular
lugs are attached vertically to the shoulder. Decoration above consists of a band of wavy
lines below the shoulder, large swags of wavy lines betwen the lugs, and narrow lines on the
edges of the lugs. Below one lug is a row of five long-legged birds, either flamingos or
ostriches. Below another lug is a pair of fan-shaped plants with a row of short Z-shaped lines
above, possibly representing a sand bank. Between the birds and the plants are two single
zig-zag lines, shown at an angle. The area below the third lug is empty and the decoration
may not have been completed.” 98
98
Teeter [2011] pp. 180-181
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Other views:
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San Antonio Museum of Art99
A fairly large Decorated Ware pot, showing a line of flamingos, a row of hills, lines of water
around the rim of the pot and a line of S-signs. This vessel has broken lug handles.
99
From the website of the San Antonio Museum of Art
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D-ware depicting animals, and/or birds and humans:

Dated to Naqada IIc-d
Bequeathed by Sir Robert Ludwig Mond, 1939
Squat marl pottery jar with round base, two long pierced cylindrical handles on the shoulder
which has a band filled with vertial strokes arranged in groups of four or five, and a flat ledge
rim decorated with cross-hatching. The handles are decorated with vertical strokes. The
ibex have back-curving horns and upturned tails. The male figure following them wears a
penis sheath and appears to extend one arm toward the horn of the ibex in front of him.
Other vessels with similar scenes suggest the man is herding the animals. The ibex stand
above a band of connected solid triangles (mountains), and on the base are rows of long-
legged birds set in four groups, each standing above cross-hatched bands.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art

Height: 24.3cm, width: 24cm, diameter of rim: 23.2cm
Acquired in 1912
Vessel showing rows of addax separated by rows of hills. There are also a series of three Z-
sign patterns (above each animal), as well as two fan-shaped plants with a series of Z-signs
beside them. The decoration on the rim of the pot is thought to represent a fence or an
animal trap. The female and male figures (as seen above) are normally shown standing
above or on boats or the boat’s cabins. In this instance, however, no pots are depicted.
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Other views:
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Ägyptisches Museum, SMPK,

Berlin100 - 15129
Height 28,5 cm
Thought to be dated to early

Naqada II and possibly found at
Gebelein
Decorated ware showing four

giraffes, four scorpions, four
flamingos, one crocodile, cross
hatched pattern which could be
an enclosure or fence, plants,
two rows of three long snakes,
and a man (with a Heka stick)
leading the foremost giraffe.
100
Harris [1997] p.29 (from the Werner Forman Archive)
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Toda Collection
Meseo Arqueológico Nacional,
Madrid – Inventory No. 16169
"On the vase shoulder there are

intertwined lines and, drawn
underneath, two scenes displayed
in two registers separated by
mountains schematically depicted.
In the upper register there are three
human figures between animals,
two of which are holding a forked
stick. The lower register shows an
'animal parade' with a human figure
at the front. These scenes have
been interpreted as hunting or
shepherding scenes.”101 The
animals on the upper register are
most probably addax, while those
on the lower register are either
ibex, oryx or gazelle.
Provenance unknown
101
Photographs and text from the website of the Global Egyptian Museum
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Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford102
Inventory No. 1958.345

13.4cm
Decorated ware vessel with

lug handles, flat base and
flattened everted lip.
Ex MacGregor Collection, lot

1754
[Left] In this view of the vessel is a group of three women holding hands. One of the women
is holding a fan which reminiscent of the fan-shaped plant that is portrayed on many of the D-
ware pots (particularly those showing boats), while another is holding a serpent (or a stick in
the shape of a serpent). A similar device can be seen on Madrid 16169. Ibex and addax are
also shown between rows of hills or mountains.
[Right] A side view of vessel shows the decorated handle, rows of addax and ibex separated
by hills, mountains or sand dunes, lattice designs which could indicate fences or animal
traps, and S-signs. There is also a band that runs around the circumference of the pot,
under the lip, of a chevron pattern. 103
This pot also shows a similar scene to the three ladies on the bird-shaped pot on page 101.
102
From the website of Andie Byrnes
103
Monochrome sketches from Wodzińska [2010] p. 126
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Height: 18.3cm, diameter: 18.6cm, rim: 9.7cm, base: 6.9cm
Dated to Naqada II
From the R.G. Gayer-Anderson collection. Gift from Dir. A. Olby.
A necked vessel with an inverted piriform body, modelled rim, tapering to a narrow flat base
and three, thin triangular handles. White, grey surface with an exterior decoration in maroon.
It features six rows of horizontal wavy lines that might represent water. Below is a register of
five women with raised arms, four ibex and one flamingo. Below are pyramid-shaped
mountains. Below follows a register of carefully and vivaciously animated characters. There
are four rams, five figurines, wearing long dresses and arms raised above their heads and
additional four rams and one flamingo. Above one ram are five S-signs. Below these figures
is a circumscribing row of hills.
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Other views:
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Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels104

Provenance unknown
This large vase of terracotta dates from the Naqada II Period. Its violet-black decoration on a
yellow pink base is composed of figurative motifs, such as women with raised arms,
flamingos and vegetation. It is not certain whether this type of vase with figurative
decoration had a uniquely funerary character.
104
Hendrickx [1994] pp.28-29
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D-ware depicting boats with water and/or hills:

The first images of boats on D-ware occurred in Naqada IIc. They appear on a variety of
pots, some ovoid and others cylindrical. The handles are either tubular lug, triangular
perforated, a combination of lug handles and wavy handles, or wavy handles only. Boats
ceased to be part of the decoration during Naqada IId1.
Sotheby’s Auction House105

From a New York Private Collection, inherited in 1946
Sold in 2010 for $USD17,500
Height of jar: 11.4cm
Dated to Naqada II
An ovoid jar with a many-oared boat on each side, a palm branch at the prow, two cabins on
the deck, lines indicating water below, fan shapes and concentric wavy lines on the base.
105
Photo from Sotheby’s website
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Dated to Naqada IIc-IId1 (c. 3400 – 3250 BCE)
From Mesaid, Tomb 665 in 1913
A globular shaped Decorated ware jar with two tubular lug handles, a small flat base, and a
rolled everted rim (decorated with wavy lines). Both boats have two cabins and are
decorated with palm fronds at the bow. One boat has the standard of the goddess Bat
[Hathor], and the other a standard with a “Z” sign.
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Dated to Naqada IIc-IId1 (c. 3400 – 3250 BCE)
Height: 11.5cm, diameter 9cm
From Abadiya, Tomb B158.
Excavated by W M F Petrie during the 1898-1899 season.
An ovoid Decorated war jar of Marl clay with a flat base, a flattened rim, with two tubular lug
handles (painted with spirals). The decoration depicts two boats, both with standards (one is
a sideways “Z”, the other an “X”), a palm frond at the bow and two cabins/shrines. There are
also wavy lines below the boats depicting water.
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Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden

Inventory No. F 1901/9.86 [018418]106
Provenance unknown
This vessel also shows S-signs. The standard on the boat shows four hills or a small
mountain chain.
106
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Acquired in 1907
Both boats show two very different types of standards – refer to Appendix III
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Medelshavsmuseet, Stockholm – MME 1969.97

Height: 11.5cm, diameter 9.7cm, rim: 4.5cm, base: 3.2cm
Dated to Naqada II
Acquired from Reinhold Holtermann
A necked jar, with a bulging body, tapering to a narrow flat base, modelled rim and two
tubular string hole handles. The vessel’s mouth is on an angle. Drab surface with an exterior
decoration in maroon. It features two boats. One has eighteen oars, the other has twenty.
Both have two cabins and a branch at the bow and a standard. The ships have two parallel,
horizontal wavy lines below the oars and two parallel, vertical wavy lines, separate the two
vessel. There are two S-signs above one boat.The base has a spiral which ¨winds¨ its way
up and around the lower body. The handles have a lattice-patterned decoration. Finally,
there are traces of decoration on top of the rim.
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D-ware depicting boats with vegetation and other signs:

The vegetation includes the Naqada plant and the fan-shaped plant. Other signs are S- or Z-
lines, water, stretched animal skins or shields, free-standing shrines, fences, fishing or
animal traps, and lines of “Hathor” signs. Very few of these vessels show lines of mountains.

Provenance unknown
Height: 13.6cm
Decorated pottery jar, Type

D41D. This fairly elongated
pot is decorated with two
boats, each with a different
standard, and S-signs. One of
the boats displays a single
palm branch on the bow, while
the other has two palm
branches lashed together.
Type D41D107
107
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIII, Petrie [1920] Plate XIX
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Acquired in Egypt, 1926
Ovoid marl pottery vase with two pierced cylindrical handles on the shoulder and a flat ledge
rim; decorated in dark red paint on each side with representations of a many oared boat and
an animal skin on pole motif flanked by two cabins below. Horizontal lines appear above and
over the handles; below the handles on each is a so-called Naqada plant. The rim is painted
with cross-hatched lines, the base has a spiral. One boat a three-triangle standard, the other
has a Z-motif standard. Both are appended to the left cabin. Similar to Decorated ware
D41N in Petrie’s Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery (1921).
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Other views:
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Metropolitan Museum, New York

Inventory N0. 10.176.118
Acquired in 1910
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Other views:
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Page 150
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Mettropolitan Museum of Art, New York

__________
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Acquired in 1907
Type D41s from Petrie’s Corpus
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Acquired in 1910
__________
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Dated to Naqada II
Type D41s from Petrie’s Corpus
Purchased in Egypt from Howard Carter, 1919
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Other views:
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Page 155
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Height: 20cm
Purchased by the Museum, 1907
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Page 156
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Other views:
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Page 157
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Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
__________
Page 158
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Other views:
__________
Page 159
______________________________

Acquired in 1910
Other views:
__________
Page 160
______________________________

Narrow ovoid marl pottery jar with flat base, ledge rim and two pierced cylindrical handles on
shoulder, decorated on the exterior in red-brown paint with representations of two many-
oared boats, two ‘Naqada plants’ and bush motifs. The rim top is painted with a wavy line;
horizontal wavy lines appear above and over the handles. Three wavy lines run across the
base.
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Other views:
__________
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Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Object No. E.1.1928
Dated to Naqada II
Gifted by G.D. Hornblower in 1928
Other views:
__________
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Height: 17.5cm, diameter: 14cm, rim: 7.8cm, base: 5.6cm
Dated to Naqada II
Type 41A from Petrie’s Corpus
Gift of H. Hasselman, 1929
A jar with an ovoid body, a ledge rim, tapering to a flat base and two tubular string-hole
handles. Buff surface with an exterior decoration in maroon. It features multiple motifs. The
rim has lattice pattern. In between the rim and the handles are, three, respectively four
horizontal lines, or ´flying flamingos´. On top of the handles are horizontal wavy lines. On the
upper body, in between the handles, on both sides of the vessel, there is a ship depicted. It is
propelled by multiple oars, it has two cabins and a standard adorned with three horns, placed
side by side. Further, there is a triple branch at its prow. Above each ship, there is a single
horizontal wavy line. One ship has one line placed above one cabin, on the other the line
hovers above the stern. Below the ships, there is a horizontal string of Z-signs, a figure of 8-
shield, a plant? or a sail? and on either side of this figure, are two free standing cabins. The
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space below each handle, on the lower body, is occupied by a large aloe. Adjacent to and
below each aloe is a single horizontal wavy line. The base has a spiral.
Other views:
__________
Page 165
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Accession No. 747-D2
Height: 12cm, diameter 8.7cm
Found at Hu (Diospolis Parva)
Presented by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899
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Height: 9.3cm, diameter 6.8cm, rim: 2.6, base: 3.3cm
Dated to Naqada II
Similar to Types 43D and 43D2 in Petrie’s Corpus
Purchased 3 September 1934 from Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson, Cairo
A vessel with an ovoid body, modelled rim, tapering to a flat base and two tubular string-hole
handles. Buff surface with an exterior decoration in maroon. The rim features four bands of
four, five, six respectively seven vertical lines. On top of each handle are three horizontal
wavy lines. The two main surfaces feature a ship. Both are propelled by multiple oars, each
have two cabins, a double branch at the prow and a standard, of which one has horns, the
other one has three hills. Below and by the foot are three fan-shaped plants, followed below
by a few S-signs. The base has a lattice pattern, circumscribed by a line.
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Other views:
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Dated to Naqada IId1 (?)

Height: 20.5cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated ware jar,

Type D44P. 109
The two very similar

scenes, on either side of
this jar, show a boat with
two shrines (or cabins), a
standard and a fan-shaped
plant above the shrines. A
geometric hatched design
circles the pot below the
depiction of the boat,
perhaps depicting fishing
nets.
The jar has barely defined

wavy ledge handles.
108
108
Photograph courtesy of Gill Russell-Johansen
109
Petrie [1920] Plate XX, Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIV
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Possibly dated to Naqada

IIc
Found in Tomb N804,

Naqada
Height: 13.7cm,
diameter: 9.4cm
Decorated pottery vase

with boat including
cabins/shrines, but not
featuring a standard.
Below the boat is an
animal skin shield flanked
by two freestanding
shrines.
Type D41S
The line drawing110

portrays the Naqada
plant as having a
squared-off base
110
Petrie [1920] Plate XIX, Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIII
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Height: 14.5cm
Decorated pottery jar, Type D43K111, Petrie SD 46. The design shows a boat with two
shrines and an unidentifiable (wedge-shaped?) standard (partially worn). The other standard
may represent two hills.
111
Petrie [1920] Plate XX, Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIV, and Petrie [1896] Plate LXVII, Fig. 4
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Petrie Museum of
– UC8813
Height: 20.8cm,
diameter: 17cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated buff-ware
pottery vase with a flat
base, pierced
cylindrical handles
and a flat-topped rim.
The design, in plum-

red paint, includes
boats, standards,
plants, animal skin
shields, and lines of
rippling water. There
are two different
standards portrayed,
and two very large
Naqada plants with
long flowering stems.
The free-standing
shrines on either side
of the animal
skins/shields have a
cross in each one,
instead of the normal
portrayal of horizontal
lines.
Type D41N112
112
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Height: 17.5cm,
diameter: 13.3cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated buff-ware pottery

vase with a flat base,
cylindrical pierced handles
and a flat-topped rim.
The plum-red paint design

includes boats, Naqada
plants, standards, shields
and wavy lines above and
on the handles. It is
presumed that both sides of
this pot depict scenes that
are similar to one another.
Type D41J113
113
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Petrie Museum of
UC9544
Found at Badari, Grave

5770. Petrie SD 58.
Height: 13.3cm,
width: 9.6cm
A buff Decorated ware

pot with dark red
decoration. Both
standards are rarely
seen. The one shown in
the colour photograph is
the same as portrayed
on a pot in the Luxor
Museum. There are two
very large fan-shaped
plants or branches
between which are sets
of rippled water (or bird)
lines.
Type D43e114
114
Brunton [1928] Plate XL
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Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Accession No. l.1.a 4777
Purchased from Vladimir Golenischev
Height: 21cm, diameter: 14.5cm, diameter of the rim: 11cm
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Ägyptisches Museum der

Universität, Leipzig115
A Decorated ware vessel,

acquired for the Leipzig
collection from William
Flinders Petrie, showing a
boat with two cabins, a
standard depicting the sign
for the goddess Bat [or
Hathor], with three branches
on the prow. Also shown
are a free-standing cabin or
shrine, S-signs, fan-shaped
plants and an animal skin.
Ägyptisches Museum der Universität, Leipzig116
115
116
Photo from the insecula website
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Musée National
du Louvre,
Paris117 E10825
A Decorated
ware vase with
lug handles,
displaying a boat
with two cabins
with looped tops
and a standard,
and Z-signs
Prifysgol Cymru Abertawe

University of Wales118, Swansea – Inventory No. 3543740
117
118
Photo from the University of Wales website
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Ägyptisches Museum der

Universität, Leipzig119
A Decorated ware vessel,

acquired for the Leipzig
collection from William
Flinders Petrie, showing a
boat with two cabins, a
standard abutting the right
cabin, with a large aloe
flower (?) on the prow.
Musée National du Louvre,

Paris120 E11427
A Decorated ware vase with

boat design, with two palm
branches on the bow, two
cabins with looped tops and
a standard with two hills
(possibly representing the
god Ha of the Delta). There
are also S-signs and flora
depicted.
119
120
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Found in Mesaid Tomb M877 in 1913
Decorated ware ovoid jar, with pierced ledge handles, pinkish marl clay with boats and
vegetation in red paint.
Side view
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Height: 17.8cm
Found in Mesaid Tomb M439 in 1913
An ovoid, shouldered jar of pale marl clay with pierced ledge handles; decorated in red paint
with scenes of Nile foliage, animals skin shields and boats with standards.
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Naqada IIc-IId1, c. 3400-3250 BCE
Found in Tomb M102, Mesaid in 1910
Decorated ware pot showing a boat with a standard, two cabins and two palm fronds on the
bow. There are also S-signs and vegetation.
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Unknown provenance
A globular Decorated ware pot with three triangular lug handles. Type D45S121. The photo
above shows a boat with two shrines, one of which displays a standard. There are some
wavy lines depicting water and a Naqada plant with a pointed base, as well as three sets of
Z-signs. This pot has a total of three boats, all depicting the same standard.
121
Petrie [1920] Plate XXI
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Height: 21.5cm
Provenance unknown
Decorated ware jar, Type D41U122. The decoration depicts two boats with two different
standards [one rather rare example], Z-signs, two different types of animal skin shields
between two freestanding shrines. The Naqada plants appear to have squared-off bases
and both have two “flower” stems. The jar does not appear to have any handles.
122
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Object No. E.GA.4571.1943
Dated to Naqada II
Bequeathed in 1943 by R.G. Gayer-Anderson
A squat, broad-shouldered jar showing boats with the same standards on either side, S-
signs, a Naqada plant and a fan-shaped plant.
Other views:
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Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC13511 – Corpus
D51B/59C
Dated to Naqada IIc
Possibly from
Matmar tomb 5130
Height: 15.25cm,
diameter: 14cm
Decorated ware pot

with 3 lug handles;
three two-cabin
painted boats without
standards, with a
fan-shaped plant
above one boat.
Two rows of S-signs
and one row of solid
triangles
(mountains/hills) are
below the rim.
Luxor Museum of Ancient

Egyptian Art, Egypt123
Thought to be dated to Petrie’s

SD58
This Decorated ware jar has a

design of at least two boats. The
scene facing the viewer has a
boat with two cabins or shrines,
with a standard attached on the
right. This standard is very rare
and is displayed on only two or
three other jars, including Type
D43e. There is also a fan-shaped
plant above the cabins as well as
two palm leaves on the bow of the
boat.
123
From the website of Ancient Egypt Co.
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Dated to Naqada II
Found in Tomb B248, Abadiya
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund 1898-1899
“This convex-sided jar with a flat base has an everted rim and three vertical triangular lugs
pierced horizontally. The shoulder is painted with three wavy lines, below which a band of
triangles continues over the lugs. The scene below centres on a curved-hull boat. The rest
of the decoration is largely floral, consisting of two small, fan-shaped plants; what is probably
a large date palm with a trunk, a semicircular cascade of fronds, and a large probably
reproductive frond above; three more fan-shaped plants, also with reproductive fronds; and a
set of ten jagged lines below, and finally a second large plant. The boat has a bumper or
mooring rope [or possibly an anchor] suspended from the bow and a tall frond curving above.
Amidships are two small cabins, the rearmost one holding a standard with streamers topped
by the zigzag symbol widely considered to be that of the god Min.” 124
124
Teeter [2011] p.179
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Other views:
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Height:22.5cm, diameter 22.5cm, rim: 10.75, base: 8.2cm
A vessel with an inverted piriform body, modelled rim, tapering to a narrow flat base and
three triangular string-hole handles. Buff surface with an exterior decoration in maroon.
Featuring below and around the rim, are six bands of four horizontal wavy lines. These are
interrupted by vertical and reversed N-signs. In between each of the handles, there is a ship
depicted. They are propelled by multiple oars, each has a single branch at the prow, two
cabins and the same standard on each boat. There is a fan-shaped plant above the cabins of
two of the ships. The third one has a diagonal string of S-signs above its cabins. Other
strings of S-signs are shown randomly around the pot. Below two of the handles are two
vertical wavy lines. Below the third handle, there is a horizontal string of S-signs and
additionally, two horizontal parallel wavy lines.
Other views:
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Found at Hu
Donated by the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899
A Decorated ware jar of pink Marl clay, painted with red ochre with an uneven flat base,
convex sides, low neck and everted rim (chipped). Exterior painted in purple pigment with
four wavy-lines beneath rim, seven wavy lines in two concentric semi-circles on opposite
sides at the shoulder, and two boats with between 51 and 54 oars, stylized branches on prow
and two cabins with standards (different on each boat). Above and below one boat are z-
motifs, and above and below the other boat is a bush along with a row of unidentified signs.
Between the boats are a series of staggered horizontal lines and a row of S-signs. The
staggered horizontal line motif possibly represents a fence. [This is one of very few pots that
show what is considered a series of “Hathor” signs.]
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Other views:
Line drawing showing the two different standards125
125
Müller-Karpe [1974] Plate 20
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Cleveland Museum of
Art – 1914.639
Dated to Naqada IIc-

IId
Height: 32cm,
diameter: 28.2cm
The scene painted on

this large jar shows
two boats, both with
two cabins/shrines
and standards. There
are several sets of
hills, a Naqada plant,
and a fan-shaped
plant. The “plant” on
the bow of the one of
the boats is thought to
be two large aloe
flowers while the
other prow decoration
is very similar to that
of the standard.

Inventory No. 36.1121?
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D-ware depicting boats with animals and/or birds and other signs:
The other signs include water, vegetation, mountains, animal skins/shields and isolated
shrines.
Kunsthistorische Museum,
Vienna – ÄOS Inv. No. 7469126

Found at el-Kubaniya [near
Aswan]
“On either side of the vessel

are lugs for attaching a rope,
enabling it to be hung or
carried. Below these, the sides
are decorated with boats (with
cabins), flamingos and
mountain peaks. The
Predynastic period in Egypt
was known for its beautifully
painted ceramic work....” 127
Collection of the Michael C. Carlos

128
Museum – Inv. 1921.23

Provenance: possibly from Abydos
A lug-handled jar decorated with a

boat with two shrines, a standard,
S-signs and three flamingos in a
row near the base of the vessel.
126
127
Text from the Kunsthistorische Museum website
128
From the website of the Michael C Carlos Museum
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Dated to Naqada II
This tall, ovoid jar has a flat base, short neck, everted rim, and two horizontally pierced
cylindrical lugs. Between the lugs are two curved river craft with blunt ends being rowed to
the left, although the oars slant from the right. Each boat has two simple cabins and three
large fronds in the bow. Each vessel has a standard attached to the rear cabin with
streamers trailing behind. Each standard is a combination of horns and possibly bows. The
lug handles are covered with panels of horizontal wavy lines that extend above and below.
Below each lug is a large plant with curved, drooping fronds that is probably a palm. Below
one boat is a row of tall birds, either flamingos or ostriches, above a row of triangles. On the
other side below the boat is a hid or apparatus suspended from a pole by a double cord. A
129
Teeter [2011] p.155
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pair of wavy lines circle the bottom of the vessel and there is a panel of them below one of
the plants. The vessel bottom has two pairs of wavy lines crossing in the cenre, while the rim
has a band of cross-hatching.
Obverse of OIM E10762
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Acquired in 1907
Other views:
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Dated to Naqada IIc-d1
Acquired in 1907
Showing three ostriches, one of which is perched on the cabin of the boat (which is unusual).
Two boats are displayed on this vessel, only one of which is displaying a standard.
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Other views:
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Petrie Museum of
UC6342
Found at Abydos
Height: 23cm
Decorated ware jar with

damaged rim.
Decorated with two
boats, two different
standards, animal skin
shields, a group of four
flamingos, S-signs and
two types of plants.
Type. D41M130
[Below] The two cross-

hatched squares are the
decoration over the two
large lug handles. The
boat on the left has a
standard that is rarely
displayed.
130
Petrie [1896] Plate LXVI, Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIII
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Petrie Museum of
UC6341
Found at Matmar,
Tomb 5102131
Height: 21cm
Decorated ware jar,

Type D43C132
The birds on this D-ware

jar appear to be a solitary
ostrich with upraised
wings, and a single
flamingo.
131
Hendrickx [2000] p.45
132
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIV, Petrie [1920] Plate XX
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Petrie Museum of
UC8812
Provenance unknown
Height: 17.1cm,
diameter: 13cm
Decorated buff-ware
pottery vase with a
flattened base, pierced
cylindrical handles and a
flat-topped rim. Some of
the design has been
obliterated by salt pitting
near the base.
The design includes boats,

both with Hathor or Bat
standards, S-signs, an
animal skin shield, and
several addax.
Type D47G133
133
Petrie [1920] Plate XXII
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Petrie Museum of
Egyptian
Archaeology –
UC10769
Found at Gerza in
Tomb 101134.
Height: 19cm:
diameter: 14.5cm
Two different
standards are
shown on this
globular vase, a row
of flamingos, a large
Naqada plant, rows
of S-signs, and
three fan-shaped
plants or leaves.
Type D44D135
134
135
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIV, Petrie [1920] Plate XX
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Height: 44.8cm
Dated to Naqada IId
Purchased in 1902
Large jar of marl pottery, with an almost globular shape, a flat base and direct lip rim. Four
perforated triangular lug handles are distributed in two symmetrical groups on the shoulder.
The decoration in red pigment is confined to a band on the upper part of the vessel, and
includes wavy lines, bands of triangles, a row of long-legged birds, a row of antelopes with
forward pointing horns (gazelle) and a large many-oared boat with recurved ends, two cross-
hatched cabins with two standards attached and a forked tree and smaller cabin at the prow
of the boat. A cross-hatched element on a pole near the front of the boat has been
suggested to be a sail or a banner. This is the largest Decorated ware vessel known from
the Naqada period. The variety of different features found on this vessel along with its large
size suggests it served a different purpose than the majority of Decorated ware jars.
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Other views:
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Found at Abydos
Height: 42cm
Type D45M
This large jar is very unusual

in that it has three figures in
relief, below the rim, which are
solidly painted – a crocodile, a
harpoon and a crescent. Also,
three boats are portrayed in
the decoration, with three
different standards. The lower
portion of the jar has no
decoration, the upper area
showing small groups of
flamingos, as well as “kinked”
lines below the rim. There are
also small sets of S-signs.
[Below] Line drawing136 (in two

parts) showing all three boats
136
Petrie [1920] Plate XXI, Petrie [1896] Plate LXVII, Fig. 12
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Purchased through Rev. Chauncey Murch, 1902
Large marl pottery jar with wide shoulder, direct lip rim and four pierced “handles” applied
beneath rim, two in the form of falcons and two possibly representing some sort of weapon or
harpoon. One of only a few pieces of Petrie’s Decorated ware to have applied plastic figural
decoration in the form of its handles. The falcons, decorated with stripes down their back, are
amongst the earliest examples of falcon imagery in Egypt. The identity of the object
plastically modelled as the two other handle is unclear. The long object with two curved
projects on the side is decorated with a double wavy line along its length. A row of solid
triangles encircles the shoulder just below the rim. Below this is a band filled with vertical zig-
zag lines arranged in groups of 3-9 lines. The boats are arranged between the handles. Both
are similar with regard to the form of the boat, the five-branched frond on the prow, and the
cabins. The standard on one side is a Z-sign, the most frequently occurring emblem on
standards. The other boat has a unique combination of two standards, both appended to the
aft cabin. One is an emblem composed of a row of 5 triangles, the other is a curved motif
interpreted as double horns. This is the only known example of two standards attached
together to one cabin137. This boat also has a bush motif over the stern. Alternating with the
boats are rows of long-legged birds on a ground line, below them is a row of solid triangles,
representing mountains.
137
For another example, see British Museum EA36326
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Other views:
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Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Dated to Naqada Iic, found in Naqada Tomb 1680
Jar with pierced handles, decorated with two boats, with standards, and two rows of
flamingos
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford – 1895.578138

Found in Naqada Tomb 1680
138
Hendrickx [2000] Fig. 1
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Dated to Naqada II
“This convex jar has a flat base, everted rim, and four vertical lugs pierced horizontally. The
decoration on the upper part of the vessel consists of two large swags made up of wavy lines
alternating with two rows of solid triangles that continue onto the lugs. The decoration on the
waist is arranged around two boats located below the rows of triangles. The curved hulls,
blunt ends, simple cabins, and broad fronds are quite typical. With two cabins and more than
forty oars on a side, the vessels must have been quite large. The standards on each boat
are difficult to interpret. They may consist of four horns tied together, which might indicated
one Delta deith, or it could be a package of two or four bows, which might indicate the
goddess Neith. Between the boats are two curious objects. They could be either animal
skins, possibly hippopotamus, stretched and suspended from a pole, or some kind of
apparatus, such as a bird trap. On one side of thejhar is an unusual painting of a bird. The
long legs, short, curved wings, and heavy body indicate that it is an ostrich. Below the bird
on either side are groups of spots that seem to represent eggs, which in nature ostriches lay
in communal nests of from eight to twenty. Below the bird is a row of four triangles.” 139
139
Teeter [2011] pp. 185-186
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Side view:
View showing a half-circle of water, an animal skin stretched on a stick with a shrine either
side, and an ostrich standing over a short row of mountains. There is also a line of Z-signs.
Musée Archéologique
Municipal, Laon140
Height: 27cm
Dated to Naqada II
This Decorated ware

vase, with wavy-ledged
handles, is painted with
boats, each with two
cabins, and standards. It
also displays rows of
flamingos, plants and
rows of S-signs.
140
From the website of 2terres.hautesavoie
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Egyptian Museum, Cairo, JE64910

Height 22cm, diameter 15cm
Dated to Naqada II
Provenance unknown
“This particular jar has a slightly convex base. Below the mouth, which has a flat, sharply
defined rim, there are two lugs, pierced by small tubular holes. The exterior is decorated with
red paint. At the widest part of the body, the decoration features an image of a large boat
from which forty vertical lines descend. These have been interpreted as oars. There are two
cabins on the boat, from the roof of one of which is a standard. A palm leaf rises from the
prow, and an anchor hangs below, ready to be thrown into the water.
“Below the boat are five stylised birds, possibly flamingos, flanked by two aloe plants that
continue on the other side of the vessel. A similar scene appears on the other side: a boat,
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with a stylised branch above. Above this is a line of five flamingos, again flanked by aloe
plants. The presence of water, which could hardly be ignored in a river environment, is
suggested by undulating lines on the handles and around the base of the vessel.”141
141
Tiradritti [1998] p.36
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Manchester Museum, Manchester

Accession No. 7237
Found at el-Badari, Grave 3800
Pottery vase with a squat, round body and a flat base. Wide mouth with small, flat rim, and
three pointed lug handles around the top of the shoulders, near the mouth; these are pierced
for suspension. One side of the vase has been repaired from four fragments.
The vase is painted with three red, wavy lines (like ropes or cords) around the mouth, and
three boats around the body. Each boat has two reed cabins in the centre, and two
antelopes (or similar animals), one at each end. One boat has four S-signs above the
cabins. Another boat has a fan-shaped plant above the cabins.
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Other views:
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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge
An ovoid vessel decorated with a two cabin boat with a Hathor standard, two addax, hills and
a fan-shaped plant.
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D-ware depicting boats, humans, and other signs:

Accession No. 3755
Found at Esna
Small pottery vase with an oval body, small flat base, and defined rim. Two pierced, tubular
handles on each side, placed high on shoulders. The top of the rim is painted with short, red
lines. The 'front' and 'back' sides of the vase are each painted in red with a boat, with two
reed cabins. On one side (see photo view 1), an animal horn standard and a human figure
appear above one cabin. On the other side, only the horned standard appears. Above each
handle, a fan-shaped object or plant is painted in red. The same shape is painted near the
bottom of the vase, once on each side. Other spaces on the vase are filled with S-shaped
marks.
Other views:
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University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology – E1399142

Height: 11cm
This vase is decorated with two boats, both displaying a different standard. A man or warrior
stands on each left-hand shrine holding a weapon (perhaps a throwing stick) and wearing a
penis sheath.
Found at Ballas and presented to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology

and Anthropology by W M F Petrie.
143
142
143
Petrie [1896] Plate LXVI, Fig. 7 (Q576)
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Height: 21.2cm, diameter: 20.5cm, rim: 7.9cm, base: 7cm
Dated to Naqada II
Purchased 10 April 1929, gift from H. Hasselman
A necked vessel, broad shoulder, a bi-conical body, modelled rim and tapering to a flat base.
It has no handles. Four parallel horizontal wavy lines circumscribe the shoulder. Abutting the
last horizontal line there are two, on opposite ends, groups of eight, respectively nine, semi
circular wavy lines. In between each of these two groups are two ships. They are propelled
by multiple oars, have a double branch at the prow, two cabins, one unidentified standard
and one with horns. Additionally, adjacent to the cabin on one of the ships, there is a figurine
with arms raised above her head. On the other ship there is a similar depiction, however this
time, the figurine is accompanied by a figure.
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Other views:
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Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York – 09.889.400

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Found at el-Adaima
Dated to mid-Naqada II
Height: 17.5cm, circumference: 20.9cm
This photograph144 shows one side of the Decorated ware pot. It has three elongated lug
handles and is slightly misshapen. The design on this side shows a boat, with oars, palm
fronds on the bow, S-signs, and three flamingo standing in a group. The cabins or shrines
on the boat have looped tops and a standard is affixed to the right, displaying the Hathor or
Bat horns. The large female figure, reminiscent of the “Dancing Goddess” figures, is
supported on either side by two men – who could possibly represent priests. A series of six
concentric wavy lines encircle the shoulder of the pot.
144
From the website of Ancient Egypt Co.
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Other views:
Detail of the three figures and the Hathor ensign
The reverse side145 of the jar bears a great similarity to the front design, the boat is very
similar, although this standard displays three hills, perhaps indicating the god Ha of the Delta
region. There are also S-signs on this side, and a fan-shaped shrub (or tree). The “Dancing
Goddess” and her two male companions are also in much the same pose as seen on the
front.
145
From the website of Croato-Aegyptica
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Dated to Naqada II
Found in Tomb 454, Naqada
Jar with triangular lug holes. Decorated with two boats, with cabins, carrying “elephant”
standards. Also two women, flamingos and palm fronds. Rows of red triangles, possibly
depictions of hills. The elephant depictions are the only ones known from the Naqada II
period. [Note: there are several atypical decorations on this vessel: the design of the
shrines, three anchors descending from each of the boats, as well as the unusual leaf with a
broad stem beside the Naqada plant.]
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Detail of elephant standard:
Line drawing of 1895.584 showing full decoration146
146
Petrie [1896] Plate LXVII, Fig. 14
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Small marl pottery jar with a low neck, roll-over rim, and a rounded shoulder on which have
been applied two pierced cylindrical handles and two pie-crust or ‘wavy’ handles; decorated
in red-brown paint with cross-hatched [net design] panels around the shoulder and on the
body with two boats above which stand two men holding clappers. Below the wavy handles
on each side is a diagonal line of S-signs and a fan-shaped bush. The two boats have similar
Z-shaped standards.
Other views:
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D-ware depicting boats, humans, animals/birds and other signs:

Accession No. l.1.a 4788
Height: 17.5cm, diameter of body: 14.5cm, diameter of the rim: 10cm
Purchased from Vladamir Golenischev in 1911
Vessels were often decorated with the images of many-oared crescent-shaped boats with
cabins, banners on high poles, and palm leaves placed on the nose as protection against
sunlight. The boats sail along a river that is shown by zigzag lines. Flamingos and fan-like
plants (possibly aloe or a type of banana plant), as well as human figures were popular
elements of such scenes. Men were usually side-drawn, and women were depicted en face
with raised hands (which might be an indication of a ritual dance).
Other views:
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Height: 12.8cm, width: 10.3 (at handles)
Bequeathed by Sir Robert Ludwig Mond, 1939
Ovoid marl pottery jar with a small flat base, two pierced cylindrical handles on the shoulder,
and a flat ledge rim; decorated in brown-red paint. The jar bears two boats, both with the so-
called double horn standard. On one side, a large female figure is painted above and partly
over the fore-cabin. One arm is painted above her head, the other hangs by her side, with
fingers indicated. To the right is a smaller male figure shown with a small beard, facing her.
He reaches an arm toward the woman, possibly touching her arm while holding a straight
staff. In the other hand, with fingers indicated, is an object detailed with short strokes. Below
the boats on each side is a row of long-legged birds. Wavy lines are painted above and over
the handles, and below the handles are a row of s-motifs and a skin on a pole motif.
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Other views:
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A Marl pottery jar with a flat base, sides expanding to a rounded shoulder, a short neck with
everted rim and two pie-crust handles applied below the shoulder. A cross-hatched band
encircles the shoulder below the neck. The boats are arranged between the handles. Each
boat has many oars, a frond in two different styles at the prow, two central cabins, and
standards: one is a double curvilinear motif often called ‘double horns’; the other is a long
vegetal frond. Above one boat is a group of three figures: a male flanked by two females with
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whom he holds hands. The women hold a set of two clappers in their other hands. To the
right, above the stern of the boat, is another male figure who faces the group and holds two
clappers in one hand. Lines of s-motifs appear above and to the left of the figures. Below the
boat is a row of four birds (ostriches or flamingos) on a ground line. Above the other boat are
three figures. In the centre is a large male, to the right is a female figure who seems to hold
the man’s arm with one hand and a pair of clappers in the other. The figure on the left is
harder to identify. Painted at a slightly higher level than the other figures, the man’s hand
rests on the figure’s shoulder. The figure has a large round head, one arm extends up and
arches over the head, the other is bent at the elbow with the hand perhaps to the chest. The
body of this figure appears truncated. From the broad shoulders the body slopes down to
possibly two small feet but at a higher level than the others. The sex of this figure is unclear.
It is possible the painting is an attempt to show jumping. Below the boat is a set of so-called
‘broken lines’ possibly representing some sort of architecture, and below this is a bush.
Above the handles on each side is a row of antelopes with twisted horns identified as addax.
In one case they stand on solid triangles, representing mountains. Below the handles on
each side is a row of long-legged birds on a ground line.
Other views:
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Inventory No. AF6851
This ovoid Decorated vase in beige clay depicts two boats with two different standards,
cross-hatching that might indicate a fishing net, cross lines of water and S-signs. A small
female with upraised arms stands on the boat [although this depiction is unsual in that the full
figure is not shown] and the prow decoration has an unusual base.
147
Photos from Réunion des musées nationaux
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Dated to Naqada IId
Purchased from Mohammed Mohassib, 1902
Large vase of marl pottery with a flat base, convex sides, a direct lip rim and three pierced
triangular lug handles (picked out in paint) on the shoulder. Four wavy-lines are painted
beneath rim. Below them are three boats, each with between 41 and 46 oars, stylized fronds
on the prow, two central cabins and two conjoined triangles as standards. Above each boat
is a large female figure with her arms raised over her head. In one scene she is
accompanied by an antelope identified by its twisted horns as an addax; a bush is painted at
the boat’s stern. In the next scene she is accompanied by a smaller male figure who holds
her arm with one hand, the other on his hip, a bush is painted above the stern. In scene
three the woman is held at the arm by a small man as above, but another male figure at the
boat’s stern faces them holding clappers. An isolated antelope, possibly identified as an oryx,
is painted near the base of the vessel.
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Other views:
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Dated to Naqada IId
Found/acquired at Semaina
A large Marl pottery vase with three pierced triangular lug handles on the shoulder and a
direct lip rim; decorated in red paint. A band composed of six wavy lines divided into
alternating long and short segments encircles the shoulder below the rim. Below, arranged
between the handles (which are outlined with three painted strokes) are three boats with
many oars, a double branch frond at the prow, and two central cabins to which a standard
has been attached, each bearing a different emblem: a Z-motif or zigzag; a curved motif
often identified as double horns; and crossed lines, identified with the crossed arrows, later
known as the emblem of the goddess Neith. Above the boats stand human figures. 1) A
single man facing right, holding a long curved staff. To the right, an antelope with twisted
148
Photo courtesy of Jon Bodsworth
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horns, identified as an addax, is painted above the stern of the boat. 2) A large female figure
with arms raised above her head, with a smaller male figure on the left holding her arm. To
the right, another male figure, facing right, holds a curved staff. 3) An addax, facing right, is
painted above the cabins, and to the right, above the boat’s stern a male figure facing right
holds a long curved staff. Vertical and diagonal lines of s-motifs appear around the figures.
Rows of solid triangles, probably representing mountains, appear between the boats.
Other views:
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Inventory No.20.2.10
Purchased in Egypt from Howard Carter, 1920
A canopy has been raised over the two figures [a large female and smaller male] standing on
the middle shrine or cabin, next to the third shrine displaying the Bat or Hathor standard.
Generally these canopies are only seen in forged decorations, and there are normally two
shrines only per boat. There are also sets of individual Hathor signs near the top of the
vessel.
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Inventory No.20.2.10 [continued]
On the second boat scene: to the left next to the prow stands a “Dancing Goddess” figure,
below which are two different types of birds – a row of ostriches [with upraised wings] in front
of which is a smaller bird [left]. On the lower right of the pot there are rows of addax,
mountains and flamingos. The standard displays a Horus sign. On the first shrine there is a
group of three figures: a man with a heka stick holding on to the larger female’s arm, who in
turn has her hand on the smaller female’s head. A lone made stands on the second shrine.
Other elements in this view show water, fan-shaped plants and long fronds of a plant.
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The third boat scene is unusual in that the boat is shown in reverse, with the prow and palm
frond decoration facing to the right towards the “Dancing Goddess” figure. There is another
of these figures on the second shrine. Towards the rear of the boat are three women holding
hands. This is reminiscent of scenes on several other D-ware vessels.
Below the boat are four women, one of which

is slightly larger than the others. She has her
left hand on the head of the smaller woman
standing next to her.
[Left: detail of the female with an abundance

of hair]
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This view of the pot shows ordered rows of gazelles [or ibex], hills and flamingos. S-signs
are also displayed as well as bodies of water.
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Height: 25.5cm, width: 25.5cm, diameter of rim: 13.2cm, diameter of opening: 11.2cm
Acquired in 1915
This ovoid vessels shows a total of four ships, all of which show the same Hathor standard,
and has falcon-style lugs. Rows of S-signs, fan-shaped plants and two addax are also
shown. This view shows a male above the second shrine/cabin of the boat holding a heka
stick. Other views show “Dancing Goddess” figures and male figures.
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Other views:
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Dated to Naqada II
149
From the Ancient Egypt website
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Ägyptisches
Museum, SMPK,
Berlin – Inv.
20304150
Height: 24cm
This painted marl

ovoid vessel shows
the characteristic
motifs of the Naqada
II period. Under a
frieze of large
triangular hills, two
large curved boats
occupy the main
area of the vase.
The bows both have
two plant stems, one
a palm frond and the
other is
unidentifiable.
Above the boats are
depictions of
animals, an
identified bird near
the Dancing
Goddess figure, an
ostrich, with possibly
a flamingo above it.
Gazelles or
antelopes are also
pictured.
Line drawing of decoration151
150
Schulz [1998] p.18
151
Müller-Karpe [1974] Plate 25
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Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge
Object No. E.170.1939
Dated to Naqada II
Height: 13.1cm,
diameter: 13.3cm
Found at Umm el-Ga’ab
A broad-shouldered jar
with two lug handles.
The decoration shows

two ships with two
different standards, a
man wearing a penis
sheath, another man
holding a forked
implement, a female
figure and an addax.
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Other views:
Object No. E.170.1939
Side views
The lines of S-signs look

remarkably like skeins of
birds.
The two standards are

different on each boat
and the animal in the
lower photo is most
probably an addax.
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Purchased in Cairo 1920
“On this vessel, humans occur above the boats, but they are different from those found in
rock art. Above each boat is one large figure, which can be identified as female only
because the smaller figures are identified as males by their sex, although it is a penis sheat
that is represented and not the penis itself. The male figures are directed towards the
females, touching them or presenting curved objects and are obviously subservient.
Between the boats are two addaxes, easily recognizable by their long, undulating horns. ...
the addax must have been a funerary symbol of some sort, but the exact meaning and the
reasons for this remains unknown.” 152
152
Teeter [2011] pp. 177-178
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Other views:
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Excavated at el-Amrah and donated by the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901
Pottery shouldered jar; two pierced handles and two wavy ledge-handles; red painted
representations of dancing figures, ostriches and many-oared boats. Above each boat is a
large woman in a tight-fitting gown, her hands raised over her head, evidently engaged in a
dance. To one side, her two smaller male companions beat out a rhythm with clappers or
castanets. The female figure is clearly important, perhaps a goddess or priestess, but is
essentially passive. It is the men who are active, perhaps serving as mediators who summon
the goddess from her sacred boat so that they may imbibe her blessings and power.
However, the meaning of these scenes is still debated. Since Decorated ware is found
almost exclusively in graves, some scholars suggest it depicts the funeral procession and
associated rituals; as similar motifs are also known from desert rock art The message may
be much broader, with motifs forming part of a graphic vocabulary ensuring fertility and
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rebirth, whether for humans or the cosmos. Such concerns were important throughout
Egyptian history.
Other views:
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Double D-ware pots depicting boats:
The following small double Decorated ware pots are generally dated to Naqada IIc.153 Most
of these small pots are self-contained, and are joined by a clay bridge. They are all ovoid in
shape and most of them have tubular lug handles, flat rims and small flat bases.

Height: 5.8cm, width: 9cm, depth: 4.6cm
Dated to Naqada IIc
Purchased from Mrs S W Kennington, 1950
Vessel with two conjoined small jar of marl pottery, each with a small base, ovoid body,
everted rim and one pierced cylindrical handle; decorated in red-brown paint with one many-
oared boat on each side and a series of ‘broken’ lines below, alternating with a Naqada plant.
Wavy lines appear above and over the handles. The two sides are mirror images except that
one boat has a Z-sign standard, and the other boat has no standard.
153
Crowfoot Payne [1992] p.189, Fig. 3
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Height: 7cm, diameter 4.8cm
Found at Naqada Tomb 1723, SD40
A portion of a double Decorated ware pot, Type D43T?154
A small double Decorated ware jar, with the Naqada plant on the right and a boat on the
broken section. It also shows S-signs and a series of four short wavy lines above the join.
154
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIV
155
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Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels

Provenance unknown
Originally in the Musèe du Cinquantenaire, Brussels
A double Decorated ware vase, showing four sickle-shaped boats, all showing two cabins or
shrines, and a plant on each bow. Water is indicating by undulating lines. This pot is
distinguished by violet-black decoration on a rose-yellow base. 156
156
Pierini [1990] p.70, Figure 309
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A small double Decorated ware jar, showing boats with different ensigns and small fan-
shaped plants above the cabins or shrines of the boats.

Boston – 11.304
Height: 7.7cm,
diameter: 5.8cm
Found in Tomb M57,
Mesaid, in 1910.
Half of a miniature double

Decorated ware jar. The
design, on the light yellow
body, includes boats with
standards and palm fronds
on the bows, as well as S-
signs. There also appears
to be a plant depicted near
the bottom left of the pot.
The interior of the jar
contained small green
flecks which may be traces
of copper or malachite.
157
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Late D-ware with brush marks:
The following are D-ware pots with multiple brush marks and have been dated from Naqada
IId2 to early Naqada III.

13.3924
This D-ware jar has a wavy line

decoration, in a pattern of two lines
of three, with one extra line beneath
– in three groups. The vessel itself
is a globular ovoid shape, with a flat
base, and a rolled rim with a collar
neck.
Found in Mesaid Tomb 986 in 1913

by the Harvard University-Museum
of Fine Arts Expedition.

Boston – 13.3953

13.5cm
Unknown provenance
A Decorated ware jar with

two groups of five wavy
parallel lines in red-brown
that have been painted
diagonally across the upper
shoulder of the jar. The
vessel has a flat base, a
rolled everted rim, a narrow
neck and is ovoid in shape.
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Boston – 13.3957

12.5cm
An ovoid Decorated ware

jar with a flat base, rolled
everted rim and a large
neck. It is decorated with
two registers of wavy
lines, in red, and has an
incised mark resembling a
highly stylised Wedjat eye
below the rim. Thought to
have been found in Tomb
646 at Mesaid.

Dated to the Protodynastic

period
Found at Tarkhan
Decorated pot with a design of

four vertical columns of four
broken lines and one shorter
vertical line of three broken
lines. Type D21H158
158
Petrie [1921] Plate XXXII
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Boston – 13.3965

Found in Tomb K2504,
Qena, in 1913
Decorated ware globular

shoulder jar, with a rolled
rim and a flat base. It
shows eleven sets of three
wavy lines from the rim to
near the bottom of the pot.

Boston – 13.5197

13.5cm
Found in Tomb K418,
Qena in 1913

shoulder jar with a rolled
rim and flat base. The
design consists of red
wavy lines and dashes,
vertically arranged in
groups of four. There is
an incised potmark on the
upper portion of the jar, in
the shape of an X.
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Dated to Naqada III, SD69

18cm
Provenance unknown
A Decorated ware vase

with a rolled rim,
constricted neck, round
shoulder and a flat base.
The design, in plum-red
paint on buff/pink ware
(Marl A), shows
longitudinal and horizontal
bands of wavy lines on the
upper part of the body.
Petrie Museum of
UC9533
Dated to Naqada III

Height: 13cm, width:
13.1cm
Found at Badari
A Decorated ware
pink/buff bowl, with dark
red lines. Type D27H159
159
Brunton [1928] Plate XXXIX
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Boston – 13.5276

23cm
Found in Tomb M882,
Mesaid, in 1913
A Decorated ware
shoulder jar, with rolled
rim, and is decorated with
diagonal brush strokes in
fourteen groups of three.
The base is missing (pot
has been turned upside
down).

Boston – 13.5179
Dated to late Naqada II to

early Naqada III (c. 3250-
3050 BCE)
12cm
Found in Tomb K658, Qena
in 1913

shoulder jar, with rolled
everted rim and a flat base.
The decoration is most
unusual and the curving
lines are thought to be
abstract representations of
vines, with leaves and fruit
attached.
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Height: 18.2, diameter: 16.2cm
Dated to Naqada II-III
Found in Tomb 401, Naqada
Gift of Petrie and Quibell 1895
“This small convex-sided jar has a flat based and everted rim. The body is painted with
groups of three hooked strokes. The groups of strokes are very carelessly applied, and the
number was probably determined by the amount of paint held by the brush. This decorated
is unique to Naqada, although scattered strokes and splotches sometimes occur in
combination with organised designs in the later phase of Decorated pottery.” 160
160
Teeter [2011] p.187
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Late D-ware with “finger marks”:

Boston – 13.3964

14cm
Found in Tomb K120,
Qena (Nag el-Hai) in
1913
This Decorated ware pot

has been painted in sets
of three wavy lines,
possibly made by the
artist’s three middle
fingers.

Dated to Naqada III (SD69)

Provenance unknown
Decorated pottery jar with

finger applied plum-red paint of
“exclamation marks” in groups
of three in five vertical rows
down the body. The vessel
itself is of buff/pink ware (Marl
A), with a rolled rim, constricted
neck, with a tall, oval body
tapering to a flat base.
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Petrie Museum of
UC8984
Height: 13.5cm,
diameter: 13.5cm
Provenance unknown
An orange Decorated
ware pot, with lines in an
abstract pattern in dark
red paint. A bulbous pot
with small circular rim
and flat (uneven) base.

Height: 26cm,
diameter: 12.7cm
Found at Diospolis Parva
A buff Decorated ware jar, with

dark brown (finger painted)
distorted “commas”. Type
D26B
Similar to D26d, SD74-77161
161
Brunton [1928] Plate XXXIX
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12.5cm
Provenance unknown
A Decorated ware pottery

jar with a rolled rim,
constricted neck, rounded
shoulder and body tapering
to a flat base. The design,
plum-red paint on cream
coated buff/pink ware (Marl
A), has been applied by
three fingers in overlapping
groups of crescent/comma
shapes.
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Forged decorations on Predynastic pottery
In the early 1900s there was a prosperous industry in Egypt, that of forging ancient Egyptian
artefacts. Several eminent Egyptologists, and also agents for Museums, purchased these
items under the misguided belief that they were genuine archaic artefacts. There appear to
have been several “schools” of these forgers, with their own particular styles of faked
artefacts.
Some of the forged paints on Predynastic pottery emulated the White cross-lined designs of
Naqada I, while others were painted to resemble the more intricate scenes of the Decorated
ware of Naqada II. Although most of the pots and jars have been proven to be authentic,
there are items in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo that are thought to be modern forgeries of both pot and painting.
As well as summarising three publications concerning forged decoration on Predynastic pots,

this document will also include other examples that are currently in various Museums and Art
Galleries.
The majority of the vases that have been decorated with modern paintings are of the wavy-
handled type. The images in the forged paintings are unusual in that they generally do not
conform to those depicted on authentic Decorated ware vessels.
When identifying forged paintings on authentic Predynastic pots, there are many
guidelines162 which indicate whether the decoration is genuine or a fake. The indicators of a
forged decoration include the following:
 A bird standing on the triangle/pyramid (similar to the bnbn but minus solar disk -
iconography which did not occur during this era). Birds on mountains can be seen on
many Decorated ware pots, but not associated directly with a boat
 A single cabin/shrine/kiosk on a boat with a curved roof and missing the looped tops
 Animals with crossed legs
 Birds (and animals) with humped or triangular bodies
 Bodies of deceased men
 Curlicues shown on the prow and/or stern of the boats
 Flags are shown on shrines/cabins/kiosks
 Lines of birds, horned animals and hills which are standing directly on, or in contact
with, wavy lines (indicating water)
 Human figures depicted with triangular bodies with no discernible lower limbs
 Pyramids/triangles on either the prow or stern of the boats (generally indicative of a

mountain or hill during this era, but never shown “sitting” on a boat)
 Shrines/cabins/kiosks that are shown with cross-hatching
 Singular brush strokes to decorate the jars with wavy lines or patterns
 Spirals which have been executed in a counter-clockwise manner
162
The listing includes many indicators that were specified by Francesco Raffaele in private correspondence
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 The paddles/oars descending from the hull of the boats are generally shown as wavy
lines (indicating water, not implements)
 The rendering of objects which were unknown at the time of the manufacture and
decoration of the Decorated ware vessels, i.e. the bee
 There is no gap shown (usually under the two shrines/cabins) separating the two "sets"
of paddles/oars
Other factors to be taken into account when verifying the authenticity of the paintings on the
White Cross-lined and Decorated ware include the colour and consistency of the pigment, as
well as the type of organic binder [usually a thin whitish coat]. The paint on the pots with
forged decoration is more readily soluble than that of authentic paintings, which was first
demonstrated by Alfred Lucas. 163
Many of the forged decorations on the Decorated ware pots are thought to be the work of a
single forger. 164 The jars share very similar details, which would point to either a single
person or a workshop with several people, working within an established set of standards.
163
Alfred Lucas – British chemist (and Egyptologist) 1867-1945
164
Crowfoot Payne [1977] p.9
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Forged White cross-lined pottery:
165
UC15804 – Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

White cross-lined vessel with handles – buff ware with light red-brown decoration
This squat jar is thought to have come from [or purchased in] Zawaideh. It has seven small
vertical handles joining the neck and shoulder. The decoration is unlike any found in the
Predynastic period, as is the jar itself. It is thought that the decoration, as well as the jar, are
modern forgeries.
UC15432 – Petrie Museum UC15280 – Petrie Museum

Provenance unknown Provenance unknown
Length: 15.6cm Length: 14.2cm
Both UC15432 and UC15280 pottery bowls [above] are thought to be authentic, although the
decorations are considered to be modern forgeries
165
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UC15329166 - Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

White cross-lined pottery bowl, Type C19N. Provenance unknown.
Diameter: 20cm
It is thought that the decoration on this bowl is modern, particularly due to the strange
manner in which the animal [presumed to represent a dog] in the centre of the bowl has been
depicted. If the painting of the animal is a modern addition, then the chevrons would also
have been added at the same time, due to the same colouration of the “cross-lines” and the
animal centrepiece. The bowl, however, has tentatively been dated to Naqada I.
UC15340 UC15341
Provenance unknown Provenance unknown
Height: 9.8cm Length: 16.3cm
The two bowls [above] both have four legs and are painted with plant-like decorations. The
pots themselves, and their decoration, are considered to be forgeries by the Petrie Museum
of Egyptian Archaeology.
166
Refer to Petrie [1921] Plate XVI, 64 and Petrie [1920] Plate XXI, 19N
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Forged Decorated ware pottery:
Two views of UC15343 - Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

Provenance unknown. Height: 17cm
This is a genuine Wavy-handled [buff] jar, with modern orange-red decoration167, and was
purchased by Petrie between 1905 and 1910. The anomalies include four men on the lower
deck of a boat with spears [or harpoons]. Above this are at least six figures (they are
perhaps meant to portray “female figures”) in booths (presumably standing on an upper
deck). Two have their own booth, the others are paired. What appear to be banners [or
flags] are flying from the sides of the booths. The boat has circular loops on both prow and
stern. There are human figures men standing together on the stern, whilst another stands
just before the loop on the prow. The birds are shown with feet, and both the birds and
animals are depicted standing on water lines. The animals are shown with crossed legs.
The decorative wavy lines appear to have been drawn singly, which is another indication of
forged decoration, although the S-signs are often seen in authentic paintings of D-ware.
Line drawing of the total decoration168
167
Brunton [1934] Fig. 2, p.150 and Crowfoot Payne [1977] Fig. 4, p.7
168
Davis [1992] Fig. 7, p.47, Petrie [1920] Pl.XXI, D46k (also shown in the round in Petrie [1921] Pl.XXXIV, 46k)
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This illustration is of a Wavy-handled jar in a private collection.169 The jar itself is genuine,
although the decoration is not. Gazelles and birds (which are shown to have feet) are
standing on water lines. The gazelles have crossed legs. The boat itself is incorrectly drawn
and decorated. There appears to be a type of shrine on the boat, enclosing a (human)
figure. Unlike authentic decorations on D-ware, this figure does not display any limbs. The
hills arising from a watery line indicate another aspect of modern painting.
A Wavy-handled jar with brownish-red decoration170
Originally purchased by Dr Innes at Luxor, now in the Otago Museum, Dunedin, New
Zealand, Accession No. E44.446
169
Brunton [1934] Fig. 1, p.150
170
Brunton [1934] Fig. 3, p.152
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Fish are not generally portrayed on authentically decorated D-ware, nor is the crocodile.
When crocodiles are drawn or painted (usually on C-ware) they are also shown as being
viewed from above. The only exception to this canon is the crocodile depicted on the Tilapia
palette171, although the design on that particular palette is also thought to be a modern
forgery.
One of the boats shows rigging and three men are perched on the cross-bar of the sail. It is
thought that the six figures in the body of the boat may be stylised females.
The depiction of the body “laid out”172 in a boat is shown in very few forged decorations; here
it is attended by two men – one at the head and one ministering to the feet. Another figure is
perched precariously on the bow of the boat [perhaps emulating a “look-out”].
The banks of oars on both boats are not separated by a space in the middle, and both boats
show a curlicue on the bow.
One part of the design on this vase, which appears to be unique to it and no other, are the
crescent shapes in the spaces separating the first and second layers of hills.
Detail of Accession No. E44.446 with an added “26”173
171
Refer to the Predynastic Cermonial Knives article
172
Refer to both the Harrogate and the Milwaukee pots
173
Photograph from Facebook: Egyptology Articles by Caroline Seawright
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174
Egyptian Museum, Cairo - 31865175
174
Photograph from Facebook: Pregypt group
175
Brunton [1934] Fig. 5, p.150
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On this pot the shrines or kiosks on the boats show triangular roofs, the figures of the men
are at variance to the norm, there is “snake-like” design extending from the prow of the large
boat, which also displays a cross-hatched sail. The crocodile is shown in profile, a bird is
standing on a cross-hatched fish, and the embellishment at the top of the prows on the boats
are all indicative of a forged painting. The pot itself is also thought to be a modern forgery.
Line drawing showing the full decoration of Cairo 31865
A large [late Predynastic] vase in a private collection176
Quite obviously, the bees are out of place and time. The large kiosk, separated into three
sections has a triangular canopy177 with something undefined descending into the interior.
The kiosk on the small boat has two flags, the water line continues through the painting of
the boat, and the oars are not separated into two sets. The legs of the animals are crossed,
and the birds and animals are standing on the water line.
176
Brunton [1934] Fig. 4, p.151
177
See also the Milwaukee jar
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There is a hunter depicted with a spear and shield, with a quiver of three arrows. He
appears to have captured the tethered gazelle and has speared the neck of another. The
gazelle with the spear in its neck is in a rampant stance, similar to both the Rhode Island and
Medusa vases.
Detail of the gazelles with crossed legs
Ashmolean Museum 1933.843178

Purchased in Upper Egypt
Buff ware with decoration in light orange-red. Features unknown in genuine decoration
include the depiction of animals and birds standing on a [water] line. The birds [presumably
flamingos] have triangular backs, and the animals have crossed legs.
The depiction of the plant and/or shrine with fronds of a plant emerging from the roof are also
abnormal.
178
Crowfoot Payne [1977] Fig. 1, p.6
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Acquired by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, Copenhagen – Inv. 5486

Purchased in Egypt
A vase of very rough manufacture, although possibly of Naqada II origin. The decoration,
which shows a boat with a human figure at the bottom of the vessel, is extraordinarily coarse.
There also appears to be a rough outline of a boat, with upraised oars or masts, on the top
portion of the pot.
These do not relate to any known authentic renditions of boats on Decorated ware The vase
was purchased in Egypt and is most probably a forgery.179
179
Blinkenberg and Johansen [undated] Plate 8 and p.4
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Gift to the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence,

by Stephen O. Metcalf in May 1914
Accession No. 14.090 (C1868) 180
Provenance unknown
This vase is oviform; buff clay with decoration in red, although the designs are somewhat
worn. At top around neck and shoulder, parallel wavy lines; below, triangles in solid red.
The main design is below this and is divided into two panels by two groups of three vertical
wavy lines. These panels are of unequal size. The larger contains, at the right, a boat with a
cabin amidships, with a crew of four standing men, of whom two are in the cabin, one is
forward and one aft. On the bow is a small ostrich, and at the stern is an anchor. Towards
this boat walk nine ostriches.
180
Luce [1933] Plate 1 (Fig. 6a-b) and p.1
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In the view above, the smaller panel contains (at the left) two gazelles, rampant, on either
side of a tree, while three other gazelles walk off to the right, one with its head turned to the
rear.
Both sides of the vase show many signs of forgery. The first side shows a backward-looking
bird, a canopied cabin similar to those depicted on many other pots with forged decorations,
as well as a curlicue on the prow of the boat, above which perches a bird.
The rampant gazelles are not known in Egypt during this period, although they are similar to
the artwork of Ur. The “walking” gazelles show crossed legs. All the gazelles are standing,
or walking, on water lines, and there is a water line directly below the circle of hills or
mountains. However, the criss-crossing of lines on the lower part of the vase are not
unknown on the Decorated ware of the Naqada II period.
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The following vase was listed for sale181 on the Internet. Following a short correspondence
with a member of Medusa Art, it was considered [by them] to be an authentic jar with forged
decoration. The vase itself is ovoid with a tapering body on a flat base, with wavy-ledged
handles, and a small rim folded outwards.
Medusa Art, Item Number: 1VW1B182

Height: 19.5cm
Provenance: Ex. Schuler, Zurich
In most respects, the decoration is unlike most of the other forged decorations, although the
rampant183 gazelle [or antelope] is reminiscent of other paintings. The paint does not appear
to be the correct colour. The gazelle is shown in a “leaping” or rampant stance, there is a
wavy “water” line beneath the hind legs, and the animal has crossed front legs.
181
Price: $3500 (USD) as at January 2006
182
Photographs courtesy of Medusa Art
183
Refer to the Rhode Island vase
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The plant depicted on the first side of the jar is similar to those depicted on Ashmolean
Museum 1933.843, and Gulbenkian Museum [Durham], Wellcome A78, and is unlike those
depicted on authentic Decorated ware jars. The plant has a double semi-circle of wavy lines
around it, as well as three vertical wavy lines beneath it.
On this side of the vase, there appears to be a rendition of a “plant”, although it could
represent two unidentified objects between water (three wavy lines). However, these three
wavy lines are shown vertically, not horizontally.
The bird (meant to be either a flamingo or ostrich) has a wedged tail, a triangular body and is
shown with feet (which is not the norm). The bird is also standing on a wavy “water” line, as
is the partially obscured antelope (or gazelle) on the right of the photograph.
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Two decorated wavy-handled jars, currently not on display, are part of an extensive online
photo gallery of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Wavy-handled ceramic vase with modern decoration

Height: 30.48cm
William Randolph Hearst Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The first jar, with an unusual shrine, birds on the prow and stern of the boat, as well as a
curlicue on the bow of the boat, shows a similar style of decoration to several of the other
jars with forged paintings. Care appears to have been taken to show the separation between
the two banks of oars descending from the hull of the boat, although the remainder of the
decoration is somewhat fanciful and too symmetrical.
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Wavy-lined ceramic jar with modern decoration

Height: 33.02cm
William Randolph Hearst Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The decoration of the second jar, also featured on the website of the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, differs dramatically from the authentic decoration of the Decorated ware of
Naqada II, but also does not appear to be like any other forged decorated pot.
Although spirals have been depicted on other forged decorated pots, the dotted lines
between the spirals above the handles does not appear in any other examples contained in
this series of documents. The animals do not show crossed legs, and resemble the lines of
animals portrayed on carved ivory knife handles of the Predynastic period. The wavy lines
have been applied singly which is an indicator of modern decoration.
It is not known whether the painting is modern, but the jar has been included in this
document primarily because of its unusual ornamentation.
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A local collector bequeathed this vase to the Harrogate Museums Service in 1968. The vase
itself is definitely authentic184, although the decoration (mainly due to the colour of the paint)
is suspect. Dr Stephen Buckley of York University was performing a chemical analysis on a
small scraping of paint from the vase (2005), although he was doubtful, at that stage, that the
decoration was authentic.185
The most strange depiction on this jar is the foetal position of the man in the boat. Other
forgeries show a man in a boat186 but they are usually in a supine position.
Many of the other inconsistencies are shown on examples in the articles by Crowfoot Payne,
Brunton and Lupton, such as the cross-hatched shrine with flags, a pyramid on the stern of
the boat with a bird perched upon it, wavy lines for oars, and a curlicue on the prow of the
boat.
184
As attested by Dr Joann Fletcher, and also by Dr John Taylor of the British Museum
185
Personal correspondence between Diane Leeman and Stephen Buckley 2005/2006
186
For example: The Milwaukee "vase", and Brunton [1934] Fig. 3
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Milwaukee Museum, Inv. No. 11353/18535187

Height: 22cm, rim diameter: 10cm
Mr Julius Carlebach donated this vase to the Milwaukee Museum in 1962. It was listed as an
authentic vase, with forged decoration.
The jar itself has wavy handles, and has been identified as Type W51188 (SD 71-75) which
would have been of a Naqada III manufacture, the fabric of which is a pinkish-buff colour with
traces of a whitish slip. Painting is not known on Naqada III cylindrical wavy-handled pottery,
with the exception of the net painted styles.
The paint is a deep brownish-red, which is a similar hue to other forged paintings. The
designs on this pot are at great variance to authentic designs, and their similarity to other
forged paintings indicate that the decoration on the jar is modern.
Specific features include: inverted triangles, the harpooner at the front of one of the boats,
counter-clockwise spirals, and a boat with a reclining [or supine] figure. It is not known
whether this figure is sleeping or is deceased.
187
The figures relating to the photographs are in the same sequence as those in the original article, although the
coloured photographs are used with the kind permission of Dr Carter Lupton
188
Lupton [1992] in The Followers of Horus, p.203
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There are also depictions of spirals, which are not generally shown in decorations that show
the complexity of scenes with boats, birds or animals.
Aspects that are unique to this particular pot are the bird’s heads, showing spaces for eyes,
and the triangular vignette. There is also a single triangle with a short wavy line rising its
apex [within the vignette], which is suggestive of a crude rendition of a volcano.
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Unknown provenance189
Height: 29.8cm
This pot, showing the side opposite

the boat pictorial[s], depicts four
antelopes, two rampant either side of
a palm tree. The vessel has wavy
ledged handles – which occur
throughout the entire Naqada period.
SSS signs also decorate the pot.
The animals are standing on water

which is a sign that the decorations
on the pot (although perhaps not the
pot itself) are forgeries. On the
extreme left of the jar, a bird is seen
sitting on the prow of a boat, whilst
the shrine/cabin/kiosk on the extreme
right is cross-hatched.
Thought to be in the Museo Egizio,

Turin190
This vessel is decorated with what

appear to be flamingos, each one atop
a mountain, a series of which surround
the upper area of pot. Oryx, ostrich
and plants are depicted on the lower
portion of the pot.
The paint appears to be of two (or

three) different colours – the birds
appear darker than the hills which, in
turn, are darker than the underlying
line. The flora and fauna on the lower
half of the pot appear to be in the
same hue of paint as that underlying
the hills.
189
Refer to the Rhode Island vase for a similar scene of rampant gazelles
190
Photograph found at a now defunct website
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Acquired from Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson
“A small, necked vessel with a broad body, modelled rim, tapering to a flat base and two
tubular string-hole handles. It has a white surface and an exterior decoration in maroon. It
features multiple vertical wavy lines, running from the rim, continues over and terminates
shortly beyond the ledges. Additionally, there are vertical lines below and around the rim of
varying length. The main motifs are of two ships, which perhaps were applied in modern
times. It has the characteristic ¨bent¨shape, however it has no rudder. Nevertheless it does
have a decoration of vertical wavy lines. The prow has a peculiar spiral decoration. In the
middle of the ship stands a tree with two large branches which arch up and then descends.
Both carry several vertical lines, which may represent twigs or leafy branches which shades
the deck. The deck has two cabins with tall walls and in each there stands a person. The
body is rendered limbless and has a triangular body with a dot as head. Outside of each
cabin stands a somewhat larger person. Here, the neck figures as a vertical line between the
body and head. In between the prow and stern of the two ships, there are rows of horizontal
wavy lines.”192
Comment: Although the pot itself appears to be of predynastic origin, the decoration on the
vessel appears to be modern. There are no oars, no standard, the boat is incorrectly
portrayed, palm fronds are rising up from the middle of the boat and the figures are resting
on the boat itself. The boat shape and canopy is similar to those shown on Milwaukee
Museum Inv. No. 11353/18535 and also Rhode Island Accession No. 14.090 (C1868).193
191
Photos from Medelshavsmuseet, Stockholm
192
Text from Medelshavsmuseet, Stockholm
193
Refer to Brunton 1934, Aksamit 2001 and Lupton 1992
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Other views:
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From the R.G. Gayer-Anderson collection, gift from Dir. A. Olby
Musée Guimet, Lyon – Inv. 90000101194

Height: 20.3cm. Found at Gebelein
A Decorated ware vase with a row of flamingos, possibly dating to Naqada IId1. Although
this vase was categorised as Type D51k,195 the line drawing overleaf indicates that this
identification may not be correct. Also, the birds are standing on a line surrounding the vase,
which could indicate a forgery.
194
Pierini, et al [1990] p.60
195
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UC6306 – Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

Decorated pottery jar, Type D41c196
Provenance unknown
Height: 9cm
The line drawing shows the three cabins/shrines/kiosks, whilst the coloured photograph
shows one of them in detail.197
“Type D41c ... Neck hand-turned, gritty buff ware. Decoration in dull red; the
details of the ‘cabins’ on the boats are unique; in other respects the decoration
is normal.”198
196
Petrie [1920] Plate XIX
197
It is not certain whether this decoration is a modern forgery or not
198
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Although the above line drawing199 depicts boats (the complete boat is of a very strange
design), a crocodile a bird, a series of hills, and several gazelles or antelopes, there are
some rather odd “triangles” that are not consistent with the paintings on the Decorated ware
of Naqada II, although a variation of them can be found on the White cross-lined ware of
Naqada I.
Decoration of this vessel shows four birds in a thorn tree, an unknown animal and possibly
two long-horned sheep.200 The decoration appears to be a forgery and little is known about
the provenance of the vessel. The tree next to the thorn tree is very similar to the Rhode
Island vase.
199
Davis [1992] Fig. 7, p.47
200
Petrie [1902] Plate 50, illustration 23
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Ashmolean Museum
1955.444201
Height: 33cm, diameter
27.5cm
Buff ware with light red-
brown paint
Purchased at Thebes in
1912
Animals and birds are

depicted on the water line,
as are the hills. The
animals have crossed legs
while the birds are shown
with triangular backs.
Ashmolean Museum
1955.443202
Purchased in Luxor in 1912 and

said to have come from
Gebelein
Pinkish-buff ware with

decorations in light red.
Spirals were fairly common on

authentic Naqada I and Naqada
II pottery vessels, although they
were always painted in a
clockwise direction, were never
joined, and never arranged on
the shoulder of the pot.
201
202
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Gulbenkian Museum (Durham), Wellcome A7895203

Provenance unknown [presumed purchased]
Height: 29.5cm, diameter 17cm
This buff D-ware pot with orange-red decoration depicts two boats that show several
anomalous features, such as the armless and legless human figures, a single crosshatched
shrine, a bird standing on a triangle on the stern of the boat, and a curlicue on the prow. Of
particular interest are the “plants”, which are similar only to those depicted on the Ashmolean
Museum vessel 1933.843.
This bird-shaped vessel

is currently at the Louvre
Museum, Paris – E10838
There are several spiral

designs which are
generally not seen in
conjunction with straight
lines. This side shows
what looks like an ensign
or standard which is often
found on the boats on
Decorated Ware. It is not
known whether this is an
old pot with a modern
design or the design
dates to the age of the
pot. Provenance
unknown.
See also page 101
203
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Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool, UK
Although this is thought to be an original vessel, the decoration of “boats” is modern.204

Provenance unknown. According to the Garstang Museum website, the decorative features
on this predynastic pot were added in the early 1900s.
204
From:
https://www.facebook.com/GarstangMuseum/photos/a.162186740489952.27719.119121978129762/2191096847
598921/?type=3&theater
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Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool, UK
Reverse of pot showing a complete boat (with sail?) and other decoration.
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Papadopoulos, John K, James F Vedder and Toby Schreiber, “Drawing Circles:

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Relevant websites:
With regard to the Predynastic pottery featured in this document, it should be noted that all
photographs and/or text originated from the websites where the pottery is currently located,
unless otherwise stated. These museums, galleries, auction houses or other institutions not
mentioned in the body of the documents are listed below:
Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin

http://www.egyptian-museum-berlin.com/
Ancient Egypt photographs (no longer in existence)
http://2terres.hautesavoie.net/negypte/texte/nagada.html
Ancient Egypt photographs (no longer in existence)
http://www.croato-aegyptica.hr/egipat/spomenici/04.htm
Ancient Egypt photographs
http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/index.htm
Ancient Egypt photographs
http://www.atlan.org/
Andie Byrnes
http://www.faiyum.com/
http://www.ashmolean.org/home
Berger Foundation, Switzerland
http://www.bergerfoundation.ch
Bolton Museum, Bolton
http://www.boltonlams.co.uk/museum
British Museum, London
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx
Brooklyn Museum
www.brooklynmuseum.org/
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/
Caroline Seawright
https://www.facebook.com/EgyptologybyCarolineSeawright/?rc=p
Cleveland Museum of Art
http://www.clemusart.com/
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum [CVA]
Beazley Archives, University of Oxford
http://www.cvaonline.org/cva/projectpages/Countrylist.htm
David Rumsey – The AMICA Library
http://www.davidrumsey.com/Amico/amico1259740-33619.html
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
http://www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg/
http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/
Francesco Raffaele
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/index.htm
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/hesyra/egypt/forgeries.jpg
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Global Egyptian Museum

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/
History of Egypt, 1906
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17321/17321-h/v1a.htm#image-0011
insecula: Guide intégral du voyageur (no longer in existence)
http://www.insecula.com
Jon Bodsworth (no longer in existence)
http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk
Katherine Griffis-Greenberg (no longer in existence)
http://www.geocities.com/skhmt_netjert/
Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna
http://www.khm.at/
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
http://collections.lacma.org/
http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/
McClung Museum, University of Tennessee
https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/
Medelhasmuseet, Stockholm
http://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web/
Medusa Art, Montreal
https://medusa-art.com/
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection
Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
http://carlos.emory.edu/
Musée National du Louvre, Paris
http://www.louvre.fr/en
Museo Archeologico Nazionale/Museo Egizio, Florence
http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Museum_of_archaeology.html
Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid
http://www.man.es/
http://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/index.php?cmd=objects
http://maa.cam.ac.uk/category/collections-2/
http://www.mfa.org/
Musio Egizio, Florence
http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Museum_of_archaeology.html
https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/
National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden
(Rijksmuseum van Oudheden)
http://www.rmo.nl/
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National Museum of Denmark [Nationalmuseet], Copenhagen

http://www.nationalmuseet.dk/
New York State Archives Photo Gallery, New York
http://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago
http://oi.uchicago.edu/
Petrie Museum, London
http://petriecat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/search.aspx
Pregypt Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/681453338566935/?ref=bookmarks
http://www.arts-museum.ru/?lang=en
Réunion des musées nationaux
https://www.photo.rmn.fr/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=Home
Roemer- und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim
http://www.rpmuseum.de/
Rollins College Digital Collections
http://contentdm.rollins.edu
San Antonia Museum of Art
https://www.samuseum.org/collections
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio [Mike Fitzpatrick flickr]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piedmont_fossil/2025982811/
Scott Bucking, De Paul University, Illinois
https://las.depaul.edu/academics/history/faculty/Pages/scott-bucking.aspx
Sotheby’s Auction House
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/antiquities-n08644/lot.2.html
Suppressed Histories Archive
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/
Tigertail Associates
http://www.tigertail.org/
University of Chicago, Oriental Institute Museum
https://oi.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelpha
https://www.penn.museum/
University of Wales, Swansea
http://www.wales.ac.uk/en/Home.aspx
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APPENDIX I
Key to Pottery Classes and Types:
Badarian pottery
Class BB: Black-topped brown polished, very fine (the earliest pottery from Badari)
Class BR: Black-topped polished red
Class PR: Polished red pots (only a few examples found)
Class AB: All black (only a few examples found)
Class MS: Miscellaneous form
Class SB: Smooth brown pots
Class RB: Rough (brown) class (the latest pottery)
Naqada pottery
B-ware Black-topped red (BR)
C-ware White cross-lined
D-ware Decorated
F-ware Fancy form
L-ware Late
N-ware Black incised (so-called “Nubian”)
P-ware Polished red (PR)
R-ware Rough faced
W-ware Wavy-handled/Wavy-ledged
Other
Class BP Black polished
Brown incised
Brown burnished
Polished red incised
Appendix II – D-ware decoration
The Decorated ware of the Naqada II period is unique in its decoration, although it does have
similar characteristics of design to that which appears on the White Cross-lined vessels.
Elements on D-ware:
A great deal of consideration has been given to the interpretation of the patterns, signs and
symbols of the Decorated ware vessels as to their possible significance. There are thought
to be around 125 elements displayed on D-ware showing scenes of the desert, the Nile area
and oases. Each vessel or pot could have a mixture of both desert and fertile (watered)
areas.
The most common elements are:
Birds
Mammals (divided into bovines and canidae)
Saurians (lizards or crocodiles) and reptiles
Fish
Navigation – the boat and components on it
Mats and/or fences
Weapons
Animal traps or fences
Sticks and/or clappers held by males
Animal skins (on sticks) or shields
Spirals
Mountains
Water
Vegetation
S-signs and Z-signs
Crosshatching – fishing nets or wild animal traps
and other elements not yet identified
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Fauna depicted on D-ware
Birds
It would appear that there were (at least) two different species of bird depicted on the
Decorated ware: the flamingo206 representing the marshy areas of the Nile and/or the Delta
region, and the ostrich207 indicative of the semi-arid desert areas.
It has been suggested that the flamingo was not confined to the Delta region at the time of
the D-ware, but was also resident in the Faiyum area and along the coast of the Red Sea.
The flamingos depicted on the pots are generally shown in “flocks”, as seen by the lines (or
groups) of birds. Flamingos generally inhabit salty marshes in great numbers and this
appears to be conveyed by the groupings of the birds on the Decorated ware.
When ostriches are shown on the pots, they are generally portrayed with upraised wings.
This is a fairly common stance for this bird, particularly when acting in an aggressive manner.
206
Greater flamingo – Phoenicopterus ruber
207
Ostrich – Struthio camelus
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There are a few instances where groups of ostriches are shown, although they are most
generally depicted as a singular bird. Very rarely, ostriches as well as flamingos can be seen
on the one pot. However, in these instances, the differences between the ostrich and the
flamingo are quite marked.
The question of whether the birds on the Decorated ware are definitely flamingos or ostriches
remains unanswered.208 However, considering the literature, it would seem that both birds
are depicted. And perhaps other birds, such as the sacred ibis or the heron, might also have
been considered worthy enough to decorate the grave goods of Naqada II, an opinion that
has not yet been explored to any extent.
Grey heron Red-billed stork Saddle-billed stork
Sacred Ibis Egyptian goose Jabiru stork
208
Refer to Hendrickx [2000]
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Animals
Several types of antelope and gazelle (among others) are portrayed on D-ware as well as C-
ware. They are classified as the family Bovidae, which includes antelope, cattle, sheep, and
goats. The relationships of the Bovidae are complex. One method of classification divides
the family into subfamilies as follows:
• Bovinae, including bison, buffalo, and all wild and domestic cattle;
• Caprinae, including sheep and goats;
• Aepycerotinae, including the impala;
• Alcelaphinae, including the gnus (wildebeests), hartebeests, and blesboks;
• Antilopinae, including gazelles, black bucks, dik-diks, klipspringers, steenboks,
saigas, and chirus;
• Boselaphinae, including the nilgai and four-horned antelopes;
• Cephalophinae, including the duikers;
• Hippotraginae, including the oryx and addax;
• Peleinae, including the rheboks;
• Reduncinae, including the reedbucks and waterbucks; and
• Tragelaphinae, including the kudu, sitatunga, bushbuck, bongo, and eland
The following may represent some of the bovids seen on the Predynastic pottery:
Dune gazelle Dorcas gazelle Sand gazelle (Gazella

(Gazella leptoceros) (Gazella dorcas neglecta) subgutterosa marica)
Addax antelope Dama or Mhorr gazelle

(Addax nasomaculatus) (Gazella dama mhorr)
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Tahr goat Bubale hartebeest Impala (Aepyceros

(Hemitragus jayakari) (Alcelaphus bucelaphus) melampus rendilis)
Arabian gazelle Aoudad / Barbary sheep

(Gazella gazella cora) (Ammotragus lervia)
The depictions of these animals on the pottery could mean that the deceased’s journey in the
Afterlife will pass through areas that are well stocked with game.209
Arabian oryx210 Nubian ibex

(Oryx leucoryx / Oryx gazella) (Capra ibex nubiana)
209
In the Pyramid Texts of the early Dynastic period (which is thought to have originated in Predynastic times)
there is mention that Horus meets his father Osiris in “the Land of the Gazelles”, i.e. in the Land of the Dead.
210
Also known as the gemsbok
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Flora depicted on D-ware

Plants, in ancient Egypt, represented fertility, regeneration and sustenance. The three main
plants shown on D-ware: the Naqada plant, a fan-shaped leaf and prow decoration. Theban
tomb decorations of the Middle Kingdom show date palms, sycamore trees and fan-shaped
leaves.
A date palm – Theban tomb of Pashedu TT3
Date palms and sycomore trees – Theban tomb of Sennedjem TT1
The Naqada plant

This plant has a number of curving “branches” emerging from a central stem which form an
overall shape of a truncated circle or oval. The stem then continues upwards to form one or
two large curving branches or blossoms (also seen decorating the boat prows, sometimes
bundled into 3 or more stems) that have leaves or buds on both sides of it, and then
terminates in a flower, or series of flowers.
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The Naqada plant has been described as having a “swollen stem which has numerous
transverse lines below, apparently indicating empty leaf sheaths. Above these sheaths is
always a peculiar ring in each stem like an eye. The stem carries a large number of huge
simple leaves spreading in two directions and heavily recurved so as to touch the ground. At
the summit it terminates in an elongated simple or sometimes forked inflorescence. It is of a
spike-lake nature, carrying a number of bracts, and at the summit it ends in a heavy clump,
making the inflorescence pendent in a long bow.”211
Type D41U [see also UC6333]212
The Naqada plant has been variously identified as an aloe, a sycomore [fig] tree, a rush or
sedge, halfa [haifa] grass, Ensete (a wild banana native to Ethiopia), or a relative of the date
palm. Diana Craig-Patch suggests that the Naqada plant was most likely commonly present
on the floodplain rather than species that no longer exist. Her two suggestions are a palm
tree viewed from above and the side (with the long spike being the date stem – although
lacking in dates) or the sedge (perhaps because it fits both the motif and the habitat), later a
symbol of Upper Egypt.
211
Laurent-Täckholm [1951] p.299
212
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The following are three of the suggested plants:
Aloe
This is a genus of plants
with more than 150
species. The plants
usually have short stems,
fleshy, lanceolate leaves
crowded in rosettes at
the end of the stem, and
red or yellow tubular
flowers in dense clusters.
Species vary in height
from several centimetres
to more than 9 m (30 ft).
Aloes belong to the

family Liliaceae.
Halfa (Haifa) grass

The halfa grasses (Desmostachya
bipinnata and Imperata cylindrica) were a
common bundle material. Generally these
grasses were twisted into cordage, and
may also have been used as elements in
basketry.
However, the appearance of the plant

(and its flower) does not really lend itself
to the images shown on the D-ware.
[Left] Halfa grass from the Sudan
Ensete
The banana is a large, herbaceous
plant with a perennial root, or
rhizome, from which the plant is
perpetuated by sprouts or suckers.
When fully grown the stem attains a
height of 3 to 12 m (10 to 40 ft) and
is surmounted by a crown of large
oval leaves up to 3 m (10 ft) long,
with a strong fleshy footstalk and
midrib. The flowers spring in great
spikes from the centre of the crown
of leaves and are arranged in whorl-
like clusters along the spike; the
female flowers occupy the base of
213 the spike, and the male the apex.
213
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A close relative of the banana, Ensete is today grown primarily in Ethiopia’s Gurage country.
This tall, thick, rubbery plant is a Highlands native and is used by the Gurage for everything
from roofing to bread. Ensete’s leaf stems and inner bark are sometimes ground into an
edible paste. Few Ethiopians, beside the Gurage, make use of this plant.
The Ensete plant is known by various names: Ethiopian banana, Ensete ventricosum, Ensete
edule,214 and Musa ensete. It grows to at least 6 metres in height, with a circumference of up
to 3 metres. The flowers of the Ensete are hermaphrodite,215 and the plant itself is in leaf all
year. The edible parts of the plant are the root, seed and stem. The chopped and grated
pulp of the corms and leaf sheaths is fermented and used as a flour in making kocho bread.
The endosperm of the seed is consumed as a food, and the base of the flower stalk is edible
when cooked.
A close-up of mature inflorescence with male flowers just beginning to emerge
It has been suggested that the plant is

represented as a marsh plant, taking
into account the wavy lines of water in
some of the representations of the
Naqada plant216
There are different shapes of bases,

and these include square, rounded,
elongated, and pointed [see examples
below]. However, this may be an
interpretation of the artist.
214
Meaning “edible”
215
Has both male and female organs
216
Petrie [1920] Plate XXX, Type D36G
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It was originally suggested

that the plant itself appeared
to be either growing out of a
pot or shows a root ball. In
these two examples, the “pot”
of the plant sometimes
reflects the same shape as
the cabins or shrines
depicted on the boats
Specific mention has been made to the ring in the centre of the stem of the Naqada plant. It
has been suggested217 that it was to indicate the most important part of the plant, assuming
that this was an important (perhaps the primary) food plant of the Predynastic Egyptians.
According to one account, written in French, during the years 1623-1632:
“The branches [the stem] of the large leaves are ground to make a very fine
and white flour, which is soaked and cooked with milk which, to eat, is
delicious. The trunk and the roots are more nourishing than the branches
[sic], and the poor people do not appear to have other provisions. One cuts
the trunk into pieces like turnips, and cooks it like meat and I did not find there
was much difference with the taste; that gave it the name of Ensete which
means “Tree Against Hunger” or “Tree of the Poor”, even though the rich
people often eat it.”218
Another explanation for the ring in the centre of the stem219 was that it indicated propagation
of the plant. The tree would be cut near to the ground level, the remaining stem having
incisions made into it that would bear 4 to 5 shoots, which could then be transplanted to grow
into trees. Therefore, the ring on the stem would indicate where the tree would be cut for
propagation purposes.
217
218
Translated from Larsen [1956] pp.239-240
219
Larsen [1956] pp.241-242
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Fan-shaped plant
Also on the Decorated ware is a tree or bush that is fan-shaped with a circular base,
although in several instances it ends in a spike, like a tree pattern. It has been suggested
that this could be a sign for the aloe plant. Other suggestions have included the incense tree
or the sycomore. The sycomore [fig] was a sacred tree in historical depictions, from which
the goddess Hathor poured libations.
This smaller depiction of vegetation has been shown in the hands of human figures, so it
may well be a representation of a much smaller plant, or a perhaps a leaf. The fan-shaped
plants have been identified as “young seedling plants, represented with leaves only”.220 In
many of the paintings, the leaf ends in a circular base, [above] whilst others have no stem,
one straight stem or two straight stems [below]. In one instance, the fan-shaped leaf
appears to be decorated with feather-like protuberances.
A D-ware vessel at the Oriental Institute (Inventory No. E5189) shows three fan-shaped
plants with “reproductive fronds” similar to those seen at the top of the Naqada plant:
220
Laurent-Täckholm [1951] p.299 (with reference to Ensete)
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Vegetation on boats:
The prows of the boats appear to be decorated with at least two different types of
ornamentation. One type is either single or multiple palm fronds, whilst another type may be
single or multiple bundled stems of Ensete inflorescences.
Below is a selection from various Decorated ware vessels which shows the palm frond
decoration:
The palm leaves situated on the boat’s prows have been identified as the leaves of the date
palm.221 It has generally been considered that the palm fronds afforded shade for the look-
out men. However, it has also been suggested that the decoration of the prow had a
symbolic or spiritual significance.
In some instances, the prow itself is shown with a small kiosk (see illustration above, right),
as well as on the boats portrayed in Tomb 100. The placing of palm leaves, or other
decoration, upright on the prow may have signified the presence of either a divine shrine
(whether visible or not) or a protective deity enshrined on the prow.
As can be seen from the

illustrations [left], in some
instances the decoration on the
prow of the boat is not a palm
frond. It has been suggested that
it is a large spike of a flowering
succulent (similar to the flower of
an aloe) or a cacti.
221
Hornell [1945] p.25
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It is more likely that this particular decoration222 depicts the flowering branch/es of Ensete.
222
Petrie [1920] Plate XIX, Petrie [1921] Plate XXXIII (also refer to UC8813)
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Landscapes
The growing importance of the Nile as a waterway and path of communication was
expressed in a particularly graphic manner. The river-valley landscape was suggested by
rows of triangles symbolising ranges of hills, and areas of wavy lines indicating water. The
triangles may also be representative of rocky cliffs along the Nile, or mountains.
Mountains or hills Water
The water motif first appeared on Naqada I pottery and was also extensively depicted on the
Decorated ware of Naqada II. The same image, of a group of wavy lines, continued to be
used, with the same meaning, throughout the Dynastic period. The curved arches of water
on some of the D-ware vessels could indicate a large body of water such as a lake or an
oasis. Long wavy lines (usually two or more together) may indicate a a narrow channel of
water, a river, stream or tributory of the Nile.
It is interesting to note that, in primeval times, water was depicted as a large S.223
Kinked lines
Generally situated above the lug handles, or below the boats, there can occasionally be
found groups of kinked lines that are often interpreted as rippled water lines, although they
have also been described as “flying bird” motifs, and – in some instances – snakes. On
UC6340 they are situated directly above groups of flamingos.
223
Gardiner [1940] p.628
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Spirals
The spirals found on both D-
ware and C-ware are something
of an enigma, although the
following suggestions have been
made as to their meaning:
(a) an imitation of
nummulites224 in limestone
(line drawing on the right)
(b) ornament only
(c) a spiral mat of twisted rush

(and joined down the edges
– spirals with attached or
unattached wavy lines)
The spirals on the bottom of the

jars are thought to resemble the
spiral at the base of the woven
baskets, or a coil of rope.
[Above] A series of spirals with tethering

cords
[Left] a jar showing one large spiral on
the body
The spirals are always painted in a clock-wise direction. Generally, the only instances where
the spirals are reversed are when they appear in forgeries.
224
A large foraminifer usually found in fossil form, having a thin, coinlike shell
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Shrines/cabins
There are usually two cabins or shrines on each boat, and the gap between the two generally
corresponds to the gap between the two banks of oars. The illustration [below, left] shows
what appears to be an awning or walkway linking the two structures on the boat. Both
illustrations below depict a slight variation in the structures, although both have looped tops.
There are also cabins or shrines that are depicted as freestanding structures – many of
which are situated near, or to either side of the animal hides or shields, although the example
to the right (below) is in a totally isolated position.
Freestanding shrines/cabins
S-signs and Z-signs

Many of the Decorated ware vessels show lines of S=lines and Z-signs. These signs have
been interpreted as numbers, libation water or notations of weight. They have also been
described as flights of birds observed from a distance. The lines of S-signs on Fitzwilliam
Museum, Objct No. E.1970.1939 look remarkably like skeins of birds. It has also be
suggested that these signs may represent a sand bank or a sand dune.
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Animal skins
This is a geometric form, the third most prominent object in size after the boat and the
Naqada plant. It is usually symmetrical, with a central axis, with an angular finial-like element
at the top. Place on either side of this axis are lines that form a trapezoidal shape, inside of
which, at the top and bottom, are diagonal lines.
This form has been interpreted as either a sail (although not attached to the sickle boat), a
trap to catch birds, fish or animals, or an animal skin.. Alternatively, it could be an animal
skin shield, similar to that shown in the main Tomb 100 painting. If a shield, the animal hide
would have been stretched and tanned, then affixed to a pole or handle. There have been
suggestions that the symbol at the top of the shield denotes the name of the tribe, or the
personal name of a warrior.
[Right] A man holds a shield while the other appears to be wearing a breastplate made from
an animal skin (from Tomb 100). Although the “shield” has a tail, it appears to be flexible and
not rigid as shown on the decorated ware vessels.225
“Hathor” signs
There are also some enigmatic signs on several D-ware vases, and in one instance a
standard on a boat that is very similar in design. The sign itself is reminiscent of the
headrests found in the early Predynastic period, but – in the context of the pottery – could
possibly be a sign that represents the goddess Hathor.
225
From the wall painting of Tomb 100 [Quibell and Green, 1902]
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Human figures
During the Naqada II period, a
more diverse range of subject
matter for pottery emerged
and the use of the human
figure became more prevalent.
Men (or warriors) were
characterised by wide
shoulders and slim hips, whilst
women were depicted with
wide hips and large heads. It
has been suggested that the
upraised arms of many of the
female figures portray a ritual
dance.
The following show various combinations of human figures, particularly those of the women
[or “dancing goddesses”] with upraised, curved arms, or males featured with a female figure.
Some female figures can be found in the Eastern Desert petroglyphs, although most of the
figures in a dancing pose (see below) are generally male. Consideration should also be
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______________________________
given to the fact that the petroglyphs have been dated to an earlier era than that of the
Decorated ware.
These (male) “dancing figures” are found at Site 26, and the Wadis Hammamat and
Barramiya. Virtually all of the dancing figures stand in a boat, whereas on the Naqada II
Decorated ware the figures usually stand above the boat, or to one side. The male figures
on the pottery vessels, as well as the petroglyphs, are also shown holding throwing sticks, or
wearing feathers in their hair.
An interesting series of
human figures shows
three three females
holding hands.
[Right] Detail of a
Decorated ware vessel at
the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York [Inv.
20.2.10], which show
figures of three women
with linked hands.
In the illustrations below, one of the women with linked hands is holding an object which is
reminiscent of the free-standing fan-shaped plant that is portrayed on many of the D-ware
pots, particularly those showing boats.
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______________________________
Above is a similar group of three women holding hands, one of which is holding a fan-shaped
object.226 This D-ware vessel is at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Inventory No. 1958.345
A bird-shaped D-ware vessel previously in the MacGregor Collection and now at the Royal
Athena Galleries auction house, with a similar grouping of women. See also page 101.
An almost identical group is on the handle of a flint fish-tailed knife at the Egyptian Museum,
Cairo (JE34210)
226
Wodzińska [2010] p. 126
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Appendix III – Decorated ware boats and standards
227
“The Egyptians were always aware of a close affinity with animals, and many of the earliest
gods had animal forms. They may have worshipped animals to try to placate them, or
because they admired their superior physical powers. In the earliest graves, there are
already objects with animal forms, and animal cemeteries were also discovered. Later, some
of the animal gods adopted partial human forms and features, but retained their original
heads.
“Each community had its own special god who had a shrine in the village and was
worshipped by the local people; food and drink, as well as prayers, would have been offered
to the god by the chieftain. Gradually, the villages were united by conquest and alliance into
larger units, and the various gods were also amalgamated into a pantheon. However,
individuals would doubtless have remained loyal to their local gods.
“Some deities, such as the great mother-goddess and her son/consort, received almost
universal worship. The so-called 'Decorated ware' - a type of pottery found in these graves -
depicts religious scenes which sometimes show events in the lives of these gods, and the
transportation by boat of their statues in shrines from one village to another.”228
Boats
The boats are considered to be one of the most important decorations of the D-ware
ceramics. They are delineated with care and detail, including an indeterminate number of
oars, two cabins or shrines in the central area of the boat, and often display standards
[ensigns].
227
Lamy [1983], p. 66
228
Text from the website of Ancient Egypt Co.
______________________________
The sickle boats that are portrayed on the Gerzean jars are thought to portray reed boats.
They would have been made from handfuls of the stem of the papyrus plant, tied together,
and then tied to one another. The Egyptian term, sepy, was used to describe this procedure.
This type of river transportation was important if long distances were to be travelled in a
relatively short time.
Many interpretations have been put forward, regarding the significance of the boats. These
include:
a) The boats may be cult vessels, if the figures on the boats are deities.
b) The pots, depicting boats, were made specifically for religious or funerary ceremonies
and rituals.
c) The boats are ritual vessels, carrying the deceased to the Afterlife.
d) The boats on the pots were merely images of real boats delivery or carrying people or
materials.
e) The boats depicted on D-ware were precursors of the Dynastic solar barques.
f) The symbolism of the sickle-shaped boats and the human figures with raised arms
represented the concept of regeneration.
g) The representations identified as boats were watered land with a chief’s residence, or
a temple platform on stilts.229
h) The painted scenes with boats carry god’s shrines and some deities of various forms,
the most frequent of which is that of the Mother goddess and her son(s).
229
This hypothesis is not generally accepted
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Merely as a comparison, the following illustration is from Tomb 100230, which show a
similarity in the shape of the boat, as well as the shrines/cabins:
230
Refer to the Tomb 100 article
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Standards/ensigns
Many of the vessels show boats bearing standards (also called ensigns or banners). There
has been many discussions as to the meaning of these standards, the following being some
of the suggestions following these dicussions:
a) The standards were similar to the depictions of gods in historic times.
b) The symbols, mounted on the standards, represent the names of kings, places or
gods, or historical records.
c) The symbols were precursors of the standards that would represent the various
provinces [nomes] of Egypt.
d) The standards are signs of family, tribe or clan – with a particular protector god or
goddess [deity] linked to a geographical area. However, where there are sometimes
different standards appearing on one pot, the two (or more) standards on a pot may
indicate the amalgamation of different families, clans or tribes.
e) The boats were ritual vessels which carried the deceased to the Afterlife. The god
resided in the right-hand cabin (or shrine) and the deceased in the left-hand cabin, as
the standard is normally shown on the cabin on the right-hand side.
f) The boats were carrying tribute or cargo for a particular king or chieftain, the
contributors being identified by the standards on the boats.
g) The standards were port signs: although some of them were religious emblems, they
could have signified the port signs where these deities were worshipped.
h) The boats were for trading purposes, and the large number of oars indicate sea-going
vessels. The evidence of the standards of many hills for the ports is in favour of sea,
rather than river, traffic.
i) The D-ware vessels were trade items, or gifts from one ruler of an area to another,
and subsequently used as grave goods. The standards may have been the god/s of
a particular gift-giver.
j) The standards could have represented household gods, of which there may have
been more than one for each group of people.
k) The symbols on the Decorated ware show a funerary ritual, or a ritual of beginnings,
directed towards a [possible] sacred enclosure. During the festival navigation, the
idols of the god and his associated deities were transported by ship, and this is what
is expressed by the “divine” standards on the boats.
l) The decorated vessels were distributed by the king to the participants of his heb sed.
The boats with standards may well have represented the vessels bringing deities to
the festival.231 If the Naqada II vessels were gifts of the king to celebrate his heb sed,
there must have been more than one king who carried out this practice. The Naqada
II era spanned several hundred years, suggesting that there was a succession of
kings who continued the tradition of gift-giving of D-ware pottery.
231
In the 6th Dynasty, rulers distributed many calcite vases (mentioning their heb sed) to the participants of the
festival, including foreigners from Byblos
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______________________________
In many circumstances, it is not known in what areas the D-ware vessels232 were found. If
the deities portrayed on the standards had shrines in various parts of the country, then the
kings during Naqada II must already have ruled over a large portion of Egypt. Alternatively,
there may have been excellent trade relations between many of the areas that were destined
to become a united Egypt.
Originally there were thought to be 32 different standards depicted on D-ware, although there
have now been over 40 standards identified. The standard is generally located on the right-
hand cabin/shrine and is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the boats.
The original 32 standards233 were identified as:
1 Human silhouette with raised arms

2 Elephant
3 Hawk
4 to 8 Symbols showing one to four pairs of horns
9 to 12 Aloes
13 The flower of the aloe
14 to 15 A plant
16 The Sun (forerunner of Ra?)
17 The Sun, or the head of a pear-shaped mace
18 to 21 Hills/mountains/sand dunes
Diverse geometric outlines (the majority of them zig-
22 to 27
zag) with no interpretation
28 Arrows of the goddess Neith of Sais, in the Delta
29 to 30 Harpoons (indicative of Neith)
Standards of the god Min and its place of origin (Nome
31 to 32
9 of Upper Egypt)
232
Having been purchased in various locations in Egypt
233
Petrie [1920] pp.19-20
__________
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______________________________
The original ensigns are shown as follows:234
Standard 1 Standard 2 Standard 3
234
Monochrome sketches from Petrie [1920] Plate XXIII, Graff [2009] p.173 and Aksamit [2006] pp.286-587
__________
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______________________________
__________
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______________________________
Standard 31 Standard 32
Examples of Petrie’s ensigns:
__________
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______________________________
Standard 4 Standard 5 Standard 6 Standard 7
Variations for Standard 7
Standard 8 Standard 9 Standard 9 variation
__________
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______________________________
Standard 19 variations Standard 20
Standard 21 variation Standard 22 Standard 24
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______________________________
Standard 28 Standard 32
Although it is difficult to identify many of the various locations, deities or groups of people
represented by the standards displayed on the boats, it is thought that shrines for the
following deities were already well established during the Predynastic period:
Deity Depiction Origin
Anty (Nemty) falcon in a boat Badari
Bat (Hathor) cow horns Hu (or Bedhet)
Djebuty heron North-western Delta
Hathor or Bat cow horns Gebelein
Horus falcon Nekhen
Min shells235 and feathers or a zigzag Coptos
Neith crossed arrows Delta
Satet antelope horns Abu / Elephantine
Sed wild dog This / Abydos
Seth thunderbolt236 Nubt / Naqada
Ha desert hills West Delta regions
Khonsu a bag ?
Ra a circle (sometimes with a central spot)
235
Thought to be of the Mitra genus, commonly called Bove’s Mitre, L. Mitra bovei Kiener which still can be found
in the Red Sea area, although it is somewhat rare. However, others have suggested triton shells (of the family
Ranellidae) which are much larger and covered by a hairy or bristly periostracum.
236
Also shown as a wild dog or jackal, and as the “Seth” creature
__________
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______________________________
The following are standards not included in Petrie’s listing:
Possible variation for Standards 9, 10 or 11
Possible variations for Standard 28
Possible variation for Standard 31 or 32
__________
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______________________________
A half-circle or horns?
A trident? Semi-circle facing right
__________
Page 334
Appendix IV – Identified237 boat designs on D-ware
References Designs
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.189,
Fig. 5
Type D40M
UC8815238
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Type D41C
UC3606
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Type D41D
UC6308
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Type D41J
UC8814
237
Identified by the author
238
All references prefixed by “UC” are currently at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
______________________________
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 9
Found at Abydos
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 6
Type D41M
UC6342
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX,
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Type D41N
UC8813
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.191,
Fig. 3
Type D41S
UC6069
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Petrie [1920]
Plate XIX
Type D41U
UC6333
__________
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______________________________
Petrie [1920]
Plate XX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Type D43C
UC6341
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI
Petrie [1920]
Plate XX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Type D43K
UC6301
Petrie [1920]
Plate XX,
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Found at Gerzah,
SD58-63
Type D44D
UC10769
Petrie [1920]
Plate XX
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Type D44P
UC6331
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______________________________
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVII, Fig.
12
Petrie [1920]
Plate XXI
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 14
Type D45M
UC6340
Petrie [1920]
Plate XXI
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Type D45S
UC6300
Petrie [1920]
Plate XXII
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Type D47G
UC8812
Müller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 25,
Fig. 9
Ägyptisches
Museum, SMPK,
Berlin – Inv.
20304
__________
Page 338
______________________________
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 25,
Figs. 5 and 6
[Two of the three
scenes of the pot]
Metropolitan
Museum, NY –
20.2.10
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI,
Tomb Q576
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 2
Pennsylvania
Museum E1399
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVII, Fig.
13. Tomb 1680
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 1
Ashmolean
1895.578
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVII, Fig.
14
Tomb 454
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 8
Asselberghs
[1961] Plate 8
Ashmolean
1895.584
__________
Page 339
______________________________
Hendrickx [2000],
Fig. 5
Ashmolean
1895.606
Müller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 3
British Museum,
EA30920
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Found at el-
Amrah, SD50
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151
British Museum
EA100568
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV,
Found at Naqada
Tomb 1723,
SD40
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.191,
Fig. 3
UC4291
Type D43T?
__________
Page 340
Appendix V – Unidentified239 boat designs on D-ware
References Designs
Brunton [1928]
Plate LIV – Misc.
16
Found at Badari,
Tomb 107
SD40-45
Brunton [1928]
Plate XL
Found in Badari,
Grave 4600
Brunton [1928]
Plate XL
Found at Badari,
Grave 3715.
SD52-55
Brunton [1928]
Plate XL
Found at Badari,
Grave 3800
239
Unidentified by the author
_____________________________
Brunton [1928]
Plate LX
Found at Badari,
Grave 3800
Brunton [1928]
Plate XL
Found at Badari,
Grave 5770.
SD58
Standard: refer to
UC9544
Brunton [1928]
Plate XL
Found at Badari,
Grave 3800
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151,
No. 9
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 19,
Fig. 35
________
Page 342
_____________________________
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 19,
Fig. 36
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 1
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 13
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 2
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 4
________
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_____________________________
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 5
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 8
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 23,
Fig. 17
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 23,
Fig. 21
Perhaps
UC36233
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 25,
Fig. 7
________
Page 344
_____________________________
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVII, Fig.
11
Tomb 1809, or
1209?
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 11
Petrie [1896]
Plate XXXIV
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 4
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 5
Tomb 1048
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 6
Tomb Q414
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 3
________
Page 345
_____________________________
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 8
Tomb Q100
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 7
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 2
Tomb 1220
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 9
Petrie [1896]
Plate LXVI, Fig. 3
Tomb 1268
Petrie [1920]
Plate XXII
________
Page 346
_____________________________
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII,
SD46-63
Petrie [1896]
Plate XXXIV
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.189, Fig.
5
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Petrie [1896]
Plate IX, Fig. 3
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Nubt
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
SD51-63
Petrie [1896]
Plate XXXIV, as
D41
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151
________
Page 347
_____________________________
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Found at Hu,
SD46
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII
Found at Hu,
SD48
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV,
SD45-63
Petrie Petrie
[1896]
Plate XXXIV as
Type D43
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.191,
Fig. 3
________
Page 348
_____________________________
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Found at Gerzah,
SD52-63
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.191,
Fig. 3
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV,
SD46
Petrie [1896]
Plate XXXIV, as
D45
Petrie [1896] –
Plate LXVI, Fig.
10
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 4
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 14,
Fig. 13
Crowfoot Payne
[1992] p.189,
Fig. 5
Full decoration of Type D45 (above)
________
Page 349
_____________________________
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
de Morgan [1896]
Plate X, Fig. 3
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
de Morgan [1986]
Plate IX, Fig. 2
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIV
Found at el-
Amrah, SD52-56.
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXV
Found at el-
Amrah, SD58-60
________
Page 350
_____________________________
Petrie [1921]
Plate XXXIII, Hu
de Morgan [1926]
p.123, Fig. 151
Muller-Karpe
[1974] Plate 20,
Fig. 6
and
Compiled by Diane Leeman

Brisbane, Australia
August 2006
Revised 2017, 2019
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Page 351

An Overview of The Predynastic Pottery o

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An overview of the

In particular, for their invaluable contributions, sincere thanks to:

• Dr Carter Lupton, Milwaukee Museum, for his generosity in sharing personal

• Jack Dean, for sharing his extensive digital library.

A Red polished cooking

[Left] Maadi pot found at

Merimda Beni Salama

High sided pottery bowl

Black-topped brown polished (Class BB)

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

A black-topped brown polished

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

A black-topped, pale brown

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

A pottery bowl of dark brown

Detail of the surface rippling

Black-topped polished red (Class BR)

Black topped red

Black-topped red pottery

Miscellaneous form (Class MS)

Polished red (Class PR)

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

A red polished pottery

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

Although this has been

A fairly rare polished red

A polished red, carinated,

All black (Class AB)

A rare example of a black

Smooth brown (Class SB)

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

A smooth brown, carinated,

Rough brown (Class RB)

A rough brown pottery

A rough brown pottery

Roemer-und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim8

Petrie and the Sequence Dates

In brief, Petrie’s Sequence Dates:

SD30 – SD38 Naqada I (Amratian) from the site of el-Amra

Revised Sequence Dates and Pottery Timelines9

Naqada IId2 R-ware (reduced production)

Pottery manufacture and decoration

3. A combination of Nile silt and Marl.

Metropolitan Museum – group of Decorated ware pots12

There were also three methods of shaping the earthenware:

2. The building up of a form, often on a piece of basket-work or matting, gradually

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Musée National du Louvre, Paris14

Naqada era pottery

Black-topped red (B-ware)

The darker red colour on the lower half of the

The first of these pots were flat-based beaker

Black-topped pottery15 on display in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology – Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology –

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

Black topped pot, Type

Black-topped pot, Type

Petrie Museum of Egyptian

Black-topped pot, Type

Fancy form (F-ware)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Inventory No. 09.379

A bird-shaped pot in red

Musèes Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels – Inventory No. E.619716