2

      FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION AND SHAPES IN AREA 2.1 (ABOVE AND BELOW FLOORS) TYPO–CHRONOLOGICAL STUDY

      The aim of this chapter is to introduce the pottery vessels and some other ceramic products documented in all the contexts belonging to occupation levels and also the dumped layers in Area 2.1. For the sake of the present study, only a typo-chronological and technological analysis of the various functional classes and their major representatives is provided.¹

2.1. TABLE AND SERVICE WARES

2.1.1. Bowls

      Within the large category of table ware, four main types of bowls have been distinguished according to the shape of the rim and the profile that characterizes the fragments examined:

      1) Small footed bowls (Pl. I: nos. 1–9, Group 1);

      2) Straight sided bowls (Pl. I: nos. 10–21, Group 2);

      3) Convex bowls (Pl. I: nos. 22–27, Group 3);

      4) Carinated bowls (Pl. II: no. 28–37, Group 4).

      Most of them are made of A-Group fabric, less frequently B-Group fabric.

      One of the most common types of open form in all the stratigraphic units of Area 2.1, mainly from below and less frequently from above floors (Phases II–III), is the class of small footed bowls (Pl. I: nos. 1–7). They have an incurved rim and a flat base, on which a spiral pattern is made when the vessel is cut off from the clay (still clearly visible on no. 5). The average rim diameter for these bowls is around 10 cm. It is likely that they were used both for drinking and for eating. They are regularly attested in the Oases and in the Nile Valley in both Late Ptolemaic and early Roman period contexts,² as well as in contexts dated to the second to fourth century CE at Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis³ and Douch/Kysis.⁴ So far, nos. 8 and 9 (Pl. I) are attested exclusively in the occupation stratigraphic units (13 MNI in total). The specimens found are often complete or nearly so (Figure 9), characterized by molded walls and flat base. The size of the rim is consistently around 7 cm. They are made in A1a fabric, rarely in B10, and the surfaces are generally white- or orange-slipped. No similar types have been recognized so far among the materials from below floors. Although no direct parallels have been found, the presence of these types among the occupation context materials allows us to date them at least to the second half of the fourth century CE.

      The second group of bowls is characterized by straight or sloping walls, and flat or slightly domed bottom (Pl. I: nos. 10–21). The rim varies in shape from simple with a groove on the inner face (Pl. I: nos. 10–11) to those with one or more ledge on their inner side to lodge a lid (Pl. I: nos. 12–13), to rims with a squared section (Pl. I: nos. 14–18), to modelled flange rims (Pl. I: nos. 19–21). The bowls nos. 14–21 occasionally have a decoration on the rim consisting of red vertical marks on white color. The diameters range from 10 to 14 cm and from 16 to 21 cm. Some of them were clearly used as cooking vessels, as the black deposits on the exterior side demonstrate. All these types (nos. 10–13 and 14–21) are generally attested in the dumped material of Area 2.1, below floors (Phase II). Comparable shapes from Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis⁵ and Douch/Kysis⁶ are dated to the second and third centuries CE. The same types of bowls have been found at Amheida in the ceramic assemblages coming from House B10, in association with small ostraca (tags) dated no later than 335 CE; in that context they can thus be assigned more precisely to the first half of the fourth century CE at the latest.⁷

      The convex bowls (which are wider than higher in shape, and so different from the “classical” convex bowls related to the Greek and Roman standard shape) are the third largest type. They have incurved rim and flat or domed bases (Pl. I: nos. 22–27), and were used not only for consumption but also as lids or for cooking, as the black soot on the external surfaces clearly proves (no. 25). The diameter ranges from 10 to 14 cm in the smaller variant, and to 16 to 23 cm in the larger one. The top of the rims is generally decorated with red dots or marks on cream color. Some bowls are decorated on the inner surface with reddish-purple spiral patterns on yellow color, which is a specific decoration of the Kharga productions, and made of both A1a and B3 fabrics. In Area 2.1 all these types, especially those with spiral decoration, appear in the contexts above the floors (Phase III), and they are comparatively common at Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis⁸ and Douch/Kysis⁹ in contexts dated to the late third–fourth centuries CE.

      The third type is represented by the bowls with carinated contour (Pl. II: nos. 28–37). No. 28 (Group 4a) is an unrestricted small bowl with a gently carinated contour, a slightly everted, rounded rim, and a ring foot. The rim is decorated with red dots on white color, and the surfaces are light apricot washed. Only one example has been registered from Area 2.1, coming from below Street 2 (Phase II). The closest parallel is from Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis, found in pre-fourth century deposits.¹⁰

      The bowls nos. 29–37 (Group 4b–f) have a modelled rounded rim and low or medium tall foot-ring base; some of them have the rim decorated with dots or irregular red marks on white/creamy paint. The types nos. 29–31 can be dated according to the parallels from Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis to the second–third century CE, and are commonly found in the dumped material below B1 and the streets (Phase II).¹¹ To the later phase (Phase III) seem to belong the bowls with more pronounced carination and inward rim (nos. 32–33) or everted flaring rims (nos. 34–37). These bowls are usually heavily blackened on the outer surface, since they were used also for cooking. The closest parallels are from Ismant el-Kharab/Kellis and ‘Ain el-Gedida, from contexts dated to the late third–fourth century CE.¹²

      The flanged bowl no. 38 (Pl. II, Group 5) imitates in the shape the Egyptian Red Slip ‘A’ Wares (ERS-A).¹³ The shapes of the ERS-A are close imitations of some African Red Slip Ware (ARS) products, in particular the types that were manufactured in the fifth and sixth centuries CE.¹⁴ The whole surface of these vessels is generally covered with thin matte slip and they have rouletting and stamp decorations on the exteriors and bottoms of the open forms.¹⁵ The flanged bowl in the catalogue is made of local fabric A1a and has red slipped surfaces. On the outside of the rim, instead of a line of rouletting, there is a decoration consisting of red drops on white color. It has been found in one of the units above the floor (DSU 208) in Room 13; another rim fragment of the same type comes from a not reliable