The House of Serenos. Clementina Caputo
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to brown/orange (A1a) to gray/black (A1b). The fracture is often zoned: brown/orange exterior layers with gray/black core. This is the most common fabric in the Dakhla oasis throughout all historical periods, and it is used for an extensive range of shapes (storage and transport containers, cooking ware, and table ware).
| Mudstone/Claystone/Shale Fabrics | |
| Fabric: A11 Wares: Pb, Sr, Dc, Dr | A dense-bodied, kaolinitic brittle fabric characterized by a hard core and medium-fine texture. Medium scatters of small calcareous inclusions, dark red and sometimes black particles are visible. Known also as Christian Brittle Wares. It was fired in a variety of colors: light surfaces usually have regular bluish-gray cores (mode A), while dark surfaces have cores ranging from pale orange to pink (mode B). The inclusions consist of very fine red (hematite) and black (plates of silica clay) particles of different sizes, fine grains of quartz, very fine shale particles, and rare very fine white inclusions. This fabric is used in Area 2.1 for thin-walled cooking jars, casseroles, and bowls, with a red and cream coating, sometimes decorated in red dots on cream bands, mainly dated by archaeological contexts to the late 3rd and 4th centuries CE |
| Fabric: B3 (previous B3b) Wares: Sc, Sy, Dr | Medium-bodied, medium-fine to medium-coarse textured fabric. The inclusions mainly consist of medium and fine red particles, sand, and a moderate presence of small shale plates and clay pellets.7 The fabric is usually fired orange/pink or yellow/brown. The surface has often a thick yellow/creamy slip with spiral and waves decorations. Fabric B3 is used in Double-handled cylindrical bottles/flasks and small bowls. |
| Fabric: A27 Wares: Sr, So | A dense-bodied fabric, fine to medium-fine texture, rich in silica and iron oxides. Macroscopically visible inclusions consist of numerous fine grains of quartz, very fine white and black particles, and small plates of clay ovoid in shape (plaquettes d’argile silicifiée). The fracture ranges from red/brown to light red in color, dark colored cores are rare; the surfaces have thick shiny red/orange slip. This fabric, characteristic of the fine ware of the fourth and fifth centuries CE (Oasis Red Slip Ware = Kharga Red Slip Ware), is associated mostly with open forms such as bowls and dishes, some juglets, as well as lamps and terracotta figurines. |
| Mudstone/Claystone/Shale Fabrics—Vegetal Tempered Variant | |
| Fabric: A4 Wares: Sr, Sw, Ww | A medium to open-bodied, coarse-textured fabric. It is characterized by the presence of many long planar voids, which are the results of straw and other vegetal material being burnt away during firing. Macroscopically visible inclusions consist of sand, limestone, clay pellets, and in the occasional low-fired example it is possible to detect the remains of straw.1 This fabric is fired reddish to brown to gray/black, usually zoned with dark gray/black core, apparently caused by the burning out of the vegetal temper.2 The surfaces are usually not smooth or homogeneous in color. This fabric is almost exclusively used for domestic vessels with very thick walls, such as bread molds, baking trays, pithoi, and large basins. |
| Coarse Quartz Marl Fabrics | |
| Fabric: B1/B10/B15 Wares: Sc, Sw | An open-bodied, medium to coarse textured fabric, with many small rounded voids. Macroscopically visible inclusions consist of fine quartz, rare fine clay pellets and fine shale.3 This fabric is usually fired cream to gray/green, although pink is sometimes found. It is occasionally zoned, with cream interior and exterior surfaces and a gray/green or pink core. It generally has a soft, lightweight consistency and is usually quite brittle. This fabric is generally used for liquid containers (water jugs and costrels), lids used also as bowls, and small bowls stricto sensu. |
| Imports4 | |
| Fabric: A3b Wares: Sbr, Pr/br | Nile Silt fabric is attested only in few examples in the corpus. The vessels made in this fabric are typically fired a dark “chocolate” brown and stand in contrast to the typical Oasis fabrics, which are never fired in this color. The Nile Silt imports also display a finer, dense, texture with minimal macroscopically visible inclusions. The presence of mica is a clear indicator that this fabric is imported, as mica does not occur naturally in the Oasis. The Nile Silt fabric is associated to wine amphorae (LRA 7 and AE3), small table amphorae, bottles. |
| Lake Mariout fabric Ware: Sr/br | Fairly coarse sandy and rough fabric, reddish-brown in color (7.5 YR 7/8). Macroscopically visible inclusions consist of frequent grains of quartz, some limestone, particles of mica, and fine small iron oxide. Light reddish/brown slipped surfaces (2.5 YR 6/6). Lake Mariout fabric is characteristic of the Amphores Égyptiennes 4 (Egyptian Dressel 2/4). |
| Rhodian fabric 15 | Hard, fairly fine fabric, pale orange in color (5YR 7/6) with a paler slip on the outer surface. Macroscopically visible inclusions consist of sparsely rounded white inclusions, sub-rounded and rounded red-brown particles, sparse quartz and black iron-rich inclusions. |
Table 2. Total kilograms for each fabric found in B1, S2, and S3 (above floors)
1.4. MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES
The majority of the containers present in the ceramic corpus of Area 2.1 are wheel-made. However, in the preparation of the handles for cooking pots, jugs, and amphorae, potters frequently used the freehand modelling technique. In the case of storage amphorae, the toes are molded by the potter by a torsion of the excess clay at the base of the amphora.
The coiling techniques or clay plates are reserved mainly to the manufacture of large vessels with thick and/or taller walls, such as pithoi, baking trays, and bread molds.40
Apart from the category of lamps, which is not discussed in this volume, only one category of ceramic has been molded, that is the one consisting of the red slipped vessels made of A27 fabric (ORSW).41
1.5. DATING OF THE CERAMICS IN AREA