See blog subscription optionsPondering Petrie’s Pots
By Alice E Stevenson, on 4 February 2014
When you think about ancient Egypt what comes to mind? Plenty of things beginning with the letter ‘P’ no doubt: Pyramids! Pharaohs! Papyrus! Maybe even Petrie. But Pottery?…
Grumpy po[u]ts in the Petrie
Poor pottery. It is such a frequent archaeological find that it rarely excites anyone but a few specialists. Petrie himself recognized this, noting at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute on February 1 1883 that:
“On such a familiar subject as pottery, it might be supposed that there would not have been much left to be said, after the various explorers who have studied the antiquities of Egypt.”
Flinders Petrie amongst the pottery of Qau, from Caton-Thompson’s photograph album, Petrie Museum archives
Yet there is so much to be said about pottery. And, no, I don’t just mean in terms of typology, chronology or micromorphology. Such aspects are crucial parts of archaeological data analysis, but that is only a means to an end. Ceramics offer tantalizing clues about ways of life, ways of thinking, ways of doing, and ways of dealing with death.
Vessel UC16244 on which is written a rare example of a ‘letter to the dead’, dating to the late third millennium BC.
In the Petrie Museum we have an entire gallery devoted to all things pottery. What we don’t currently offer is much in the way of insight into why we have so much pottery, nor do we reveal what it can tell us about ancient Egypt or Sudan. Sure there are some dates attached to them. But in those periods that we identify what were these things for? What did these vessels contain? Where were they used? What did they mean for the people that used them?
Thinking pots in the Petrie
All good questions. But as a curator my question right now is whether there is space in the gallery to offer some answers. The cases and any available storage in the Petrie are full, so there’s very little wiggle room.
Jostling for attention on the busy shelves of the Petrie Pottery Gallery
There are windows of opportunity though to try out a few new approaches. So over the next year I’m going to explore a few small interventions: case highlights – watch out for a few new labels; a new pottery trail – picking out a few characters from the displays; and a series of blog contributions from pottery specialists, artists and students to share some of their thoughts about the pottery collection. So watch this space! But don’t just watch – ask. Is there a vessel that caught your eye on your visit? Want to know more about a certain ceramic artefact? Do get in touch if so, as it can feed into ongoing changes. When you think about ancient Egypt or Sudan then, think about pottery.
Alice Stevenson 4 February 2014
Hi Alice, so glad to see that pots still feature significantly in the Petrie. I wrote my PhD about the Predynastic pottery in the Manchester Museum collection in the 1980s much of it excavated by Petrie, I also worked at Memphis with Janine Bourriau and am currently working on the MK material Palestinian and Creatan pottery from Wadi Gawasis. I am also a primary school teacher and have taught adult courses on ancient Egypt for various bodies including UEA. If I can ever be of help with making pottery more glamorous and accessible please get in touch.