EGYPT
[See the diagrams of flint implements, Illustration II; pottery,
Illustration XIII; and the table of hieroglyphic signs liable to be
confused with each other, Illustration I]
First Prehistoric Age, 8000?-7000? B.C.
Cemeteries of round or oval pits on the desert; no towns known. Red
faced pottery, often with lustrous black top, earliest with patterns
of white slip lines: all hand-made. Block figures of ivory or paste.
Combs with long teeth and animal tops.
Second Prehistoric Age, 7000?-5500 B.C.
Graves, square pits. Red faced, and much coarse brown pottery. Buff
with red painting of cordage, spirals, and ships. Pot forms copied
from stone. Some pots globular with wavy ledge handles, changing to
cylinders with wavy band. Slate palettes in all prehistoric periods.
Early Dynasties, 5500-4700 B.C.
Towns and cemeteries. Great mastabas of brick. Wooden coffins begin.
Great jars; hard, wheel-made pottery. Glazed tiles, &c. Stone bowls
common. Cylinder sealings on clay.
Pyramid Period, IV-Vl Dynasties, 4700-4000 B.C.
Sculptured stone tomb-chapels. Diorite bowls. Thick brown pot
offering bowls. Limestone statues, painted. Cornelian amulets in
strings.
Vl-XI Dynasties, 4200-3600 B.C.
Copper mirrors begin. Buttons, wide face, un-Egyptian work. Pottery
models of houses placed on grave edge.
Middle Kingdom, Xll-XIII Dynasties, 3600-2900 B.C.
Brick pyramids. Large rock tomb-chapels, painted. Hard drab pottery.
Alabaster kohl-pots, good forms. Globular beads, large; cornelian,
amethyst, and green glaze. Scroll pattern scarabs.
XIV-XVII Dynasties. 2900-1600 B.C.
Small flasks with handles, black with pricked patterns. Coarsely cut
scarabs. Shell beads.
New Kingdom XVIII-XXI Dynasties, 1587-952 B.C.
Small painted tombs. Pottery, red face black edge to 1500; buff, red
and black lines to 1400; blue bands 1400-1200. Hard polished drab,
about 1400-1350. Glass beads, &c., abundant 1400-1300. Glaze deep
blue 1500, brilliant blue 1400, poor blue 1300, green 1200: deep blue
ushabtis 1100, pale and rough 1000. Ushabtis, stone or wood engraved
1550-1450, pottery 1450 to very coarse 1250, wood very coarse by
1250; glazed fine 1300, decline to small rough lumps 800. Beads,
minute coloured glaze and stone to 1450, thin discs 1450-1350,
coloured pastes red and blue 1450 to 1300, yellow glass mainly 1300-
1200, poor glaze after 1200. Alabaster kohl-pots, clumsy forms to
1450; tubes of stone, glaze, wood, or reed 1450-1200.
Bubastites, XXII-XXV Dynasties, 950-664 B.C.
Clumsy large jars, widening to bottom, small handles. Green glazed
figures of cat-head goddess, cats, pigs, and sacred eyes; coarse
glass beads, yellow and black: copper wire bracelets. Glass beads
with blue spots in circles of brown and white. Scarabs coarse and
worst at 750. Fine work revived at 700 by Ethiopians. Glazes dull,
dirty, green. Glass unknown. Coffins very roughly painted.
Saites, XXVI-XXX Dynasties, 664-342 B.C.
Pottery clumsy, mostly rough: some thin, smooth red. Greek influence;
silver coins from 500 onward. Iron tools beginning. Glaze pale
greyish and olive: some fine blue at 350. No glass. Bronze figures
common. Ushabtis with back pier and beard; fine 650 to poor at 350.
Ptolemies, 332-30 B.C.
Pottery clumsy and small. Many Rhodian jars with Greek stamped
handles. Glazes, dark violet and yellow-green. Glass revived for
inlay figures in shrines: minute mosaic begins. Glazed beads scarce,
no scarabs. Large copper coins, silver tetradrachms, base in later
time, and concave on reverse.
Romans, 30 B.C.-A.D. 641. The earlier half, to A.D. 300.
Large brown amphorae, peg bottoms; ribbed after 180, wide ribbing at
first, then narrower. Glass blown; fine white and cut facets in 1st
cent.; hollow brims 2nd-4th; stems and pressed feet, 3rd-4th. Glass
mosaic 1st cent.; coarser wall mosaic 2nd cent. Glaze coarse blue, on
thick clumsy bowls and jugs. Red brick buildings as well as mud
brick, coins: billon tetradrachms in 1st cent., almost copper in 2nd,
small copper dumps in 3rd, leaden tokens from A.D. 180 to 260. Some
large copper in 1st and 2nd, thinner than the Ptolemaic. Potsherds
used for writing receipts and letters. Abundance of moulded terra-
cottas, and small lamps.
Roman, Second Period, A.D. 300-641.
The Constantinian Age brings in new styles. Much salmon-coloured hard
pottery, mainly platters and flat dishes. Brown amphorae soft and
smaller, with narrow ribbing. No glaze. Much very thin glass. Coins:
little thin flat copper, as in rest of Empire, ending about 450. No
Egyptian coinage, except a very few rough lumps from Justinian to
Heraclius, I+B on back. Letters written on potsherds and flakes of
limestone.
Red brick the material for all large buildings. Limestone capitals of
debased leafage. Rudely cut relief patterns in wood. Coarsely carved
and turned bone or ivory. Pottery in Byzantine Age with white facing
and rudely painted figures. Textiles, with embroidery in colours, and
especially purple discs with thread designs of the earlier Arab
period. A characteristic of late Roman and Arab mounds is the organic
smell.
Muhammadan Period. Seventh to fifteenth centuries.
Characterized by great amounts of glazed pottery. Smaller antiquities
found in cemeteries or on ruined sites, the earliest transitional,
and related to Coptic examples of the same kinds. Pottery: lamps at
first continue Christian forms and are unglazed; afterwards long
spouted lamps of dark green glaze. Fragments of vessels, &c., from
the rubbish heaps of old Cairo are glazed; a typical faience has a
soft sandy body of light colour with painted designs in blue or blue
and brown with transparent glaze. Those of the Mamluk period, and
probably some of earlier date, show a general resemblance to Western
Asiatic contemporary wares, due to importation of potters from Syria,
Asia Minor, and Persia (between twelfth and fifteenth centuries).
Other varieties have decoration in metallic lustre on an opaque white
tin glaze; others again have monochrome glazes imitating imported
Chinese wares. Inscriptions very rare. Glass: if found, is in
fragments; rich coloured enamel designs are seldom earlier than the
thirteenth century. Textiles: chiefly found in small pieces; the
colours rich; ornament consisting of geometrical designs and Cufic
inscriptions. Any silk, or printed patterns, should be secured.
No information about papyri is given here, for the reason that any
site containing them should not be touched except by a trained
excavator.
[ILLUSTRATION XIII: EGYPTIAN POTTERY TYPES]