of the most representative shapes and fabrics to establish the main typologies and update the Site Shape Catalogue (SSC), which is the main tool for working in the field. All the diagnostic sherds, i.e., rims, bases, and handles, from each unit are recorded on the Fiche de Comptage where the profile sketch of the sherd is also traced, along with the fabric/ware code and the type number from SSC.8 Unknown fabrics and variants are fully described. The Site Shape Catalogue is built year after year for each excavation area and is intended to collect all the vessel shapes found, to which a code number is given. This system allowed us to avoid drawing all of the diagnostic pieces found in the same area, an efficiency of some importance given the very high number of sherds present at Amheida. Only new types or special cases, as well as complete vessels, are individually documented and described in Find Record forms, with a new Inventory Code assigned to them. These vessels and fragments are drawn,9 photographed, and entered into the SSC with a type progressive number, in order to keep the catalogue constantly updated. The types are arranged in the SSC according to the functional class and shape (bowls, plates, kraters, pots, etc.), and further subdivided according to their morphological parameters (characteristics and diameter of the rim, base, handle, and body).10 The fabric and ware, as well as the manufacturing techniques, also play an important role in classification.
The information comprised in the Find Record form for each type follows the general criteria for cataloguing archaeological finds.11 The surface treatment (slip, pseudo-slip, decorations, etc.), traces of use (e.g., soot), dimensions (diameter of the rim and/or base, wall thickness, height of the vessel), manufacturing techniques (on the wheel, hand-modelled, molded, etc.), and state of preservation (complete, not complete, fragmentary, good, fair, bad) are also indicated.
The macroscopic analysis of the fabric is performed through the use of a monocular magnifying lens.12 This instrument, although far less precise than petrographic and physical-chemical analyses, is a sufficient tool to identify ceramic fabrics directly in the field. The macroscopic study of all ceramic sherds followed these criteria:
• Surface and fracture color of the fabric;
• Hardness;
• Appearance and mineralogical composition of the clay (i.e., color, size, occurrence, and quality of inclusions);
• The final processing (firing modes), surface treatment (i.e., slip, decoration, etc.), and eventual decoration.
In describing a vessel, the color of the fracture is usually provided (i.e., beige, light pink, orange, red, reddish/brown, brown, gray, black, and greenish), as well as the color of the core, if different from the surface (pinkish, reddish; gray, gray/blue). The Nile and ferruginous clays are rich in degreasing (straw, sand, quartz, mica) and melting (limestone, iron oxide, feldspar) additives. Chaff and sand inclusions are present in large quantities, especially in the fabrics characteristic of large storage containers (jars, pithoi) and vessels of domestic use (basins and baking trays). A relevant amount of micaceous inclusions is frequent mainly in the fabrics characteristic of amphorae, in particular in the Late Roman Amphora 7, which typically exhibit grains of mica golden in color and uniformly distributed. The ceramic fabrics in the oasis contain a significant amount of calcareous and iron oxide inclusions. These components result in the vessels presenting surface colors ranging from red-orange to purple, markedly lighter than the traditional productions in Nile clay that are red-brown to brown in color. Medium- to large-sized red and black inclusions are clearly visible in the fracture of vessels produced in calcareous clay, such as jugs and bowls.
The hardness is defined by the vessel’s scratch resistance, determined by the compactness of the clay or by the type and number of particles present inside the fabrics.13 The ceramic body is defined as:
1. Hard or very hard, when scratchable only by a metal tip;
2. Pliable or soft, when scratchable by a fingernail;
3. Brittle, when flakable by finger pressure.
The size of the grain and the amount of inclusions are defined as:
1. Purified — devoid of inclusions visible to the naked eye;
2. Fine — rare, very fine inclusions (0.1–0.2 mm);
3. Medium-fine — contains fine inclusions (0.3–0.4 mm);
4. Medium — medium sized inclusions visible to the naked eye (ca. 0.5 mm);
5. Medium-coarse — grain size ranging from 0.5 to 1 mm;
6. Coarse — medium to large inclusions (1 to 3 mm).
The combination of these characteristics is at the basis of the classification of the fabrics.
1.2. FABRICS
The fabric identifications utilized in this study are based on the Dakhleh Oasis Fabric System, originally developed by C. A. Hope during the survey phase of the DOP Project.14 Each fabric type has been provided with an identification code according to this system (Table 1 below). The benefit of using this system is that it enables material recorded prior to the current study to be more easily incorporated, while also allowing comparisons to be made with previously published studies. However, the description and understanding of relationships between the various fabric groups have been improved thanks to the recent publications on Ptolemaic ceramic in the Dakhla oasis and Western desert by James C. R. Gill,15 the petrographic analyses conducted by Mark A. J. Eccleston,16 and additional observation arising from conversations in the field between the author and Pascale Ballet.
Among the ceramic material found at Amheida, the most common fabrics in Area 2.1, and on the site in general, are A1 and A2, while variants of these fabrics are utilized in much smaller quantities (A5, A28). A smaller quantity of vessels is made in marl fabrics (B1/B10/B15).17 A11 is a fine kaolinitic, iron-rich, brittle fabric used for manufacturing thin-walled and ribbed cooking jars, casseroles, and bowls, and it is very common in Late Antique contexts. Known as “Christian Brittle Ware,” it is possibly made of a local kaolinitic clay,18 and is well attested in Area 2.1, in the DSUs above floor levels dated to the fourth century CE.19 A thicker variant of A11, known as B17, is possibly a precursor (mid-third century CE) to the thinner-walled fabric A11 of the fourth century.20 Few types of bowls and cooking pots made of B17 are attested in the DSUs below the floors (pre-fourth century). The vessels intended for domestic use, such as storage vessels/pithoi, basins, trays, and molds, as well as some specialized forms, are characterized by a medium coarse-textured fabric, rich in vegetal temper (A4). Fairly common in the Dakhla oasis, this fabric is attested since the Old Kingdom.21
Alongside the regional iron-rich and calcium-rich productions, other fabrics (B3b=B3 and A27) commonly attested in Dakhla and Kharga oases have been identified. Their places of manufacture are still uncertain or unknown, and for this reason they are generally defined as productions of the Great Oasis. They correspond to two regional productions that, during the fourth century CE, are usually attested in both oases and they are associated, respectively, with the group of the Yellow Slipped Ware and the group of fine Red Slip Ware.
The fabric B3b has recently been assimilated in Gill’s study on Ptolemaic productions in Dakhla oasis and Western Desert to fabric B3, because it has been shown that its composition is unrelated to B3a.22 At Amheida (Area 2.1), B3 (previous B3b) is associated with a specific production consisting of Double-handled bottles/flasks and small bowls with yellow slipped surfaces. Their manufacture is mainly attested in the Kharga Oasis (specially in the North) from the fourth to the early fifth century CE.23
The
