The petrography of imported Levantine Combed vessels from early Old Kingdom Giza

2019/10/29 by Karin Sowada, Mary F. Ownby, Mary Ownby +1 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00758914.2019.1664197

openalex publication_date 2019/10/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Thin-section petrography was used to examine 36 samples of imported Early Bronze Age Combed vessels from Giza, Egypt. The samples come from fragmentary pots found in early Old Kingdom tombs of high officials, and the workers’ settlement at Heit el-Ghurab. Most date to the 4th Dynasty; coeval with the ARCANE Early Central Levant (ECL) 4 and Early Southern Levant (ESL) 5b periods. Results reveal a primary fabric with slight variations, containing material pointing to production centres close to Cretaceous formations outcropping in Central Lebanon, from Beirut and Tripoli. No fabrics from the southern Levant were identified. The results also demonstrate that by the early Old Kingdom, supply-lines to ceramic production centres in the Central Levant, linked to the acquisition of coniferous timbers, largely supplanted the diffuse networks of the Early Dynastic period.

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• On Early Bronze Age Levantine combed vessels: the view from the south

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