Stone vessels in Ancient Egypt
They were an important status indicator, and commonly used to hold liquids or cosmetics, for ritual and display purposes, and as canopic jars.
[1] From the Predynastic Period (c. 4000 – c. 3100 BC) onward, hundreds of thousands were created, in a wide variety of shapes and materials, many from hard stones, but the majority from soft calcareous rocks, especially travertine.
Production peaked around the early Dynastic period (c. 3100 – c. 2686 BC), perhaps due to the adoption of a turning device like the potter's wheel.
Both hard and soft stone vessels continued to be produced until the end of antiquity and beyond, however in diminished quantity and variety.
Egyptian stone vessels were manufactured for everyday use, ritual and burial purposes (e.g. canopic jars[7]), foundation deposits, temple votives, and as trade goods.
[9][10] Most stones vessels were uninscribed: Only a small portion bear the names of pharaohs or members of the royal family, titles or labels of their contents or capacity.
[15] For example, at the anorthosite gneiss quarry at Gebel el-Asr, which was used almost exclusively to produce hard stone vessel blanks since the Predynastic Period (c. 4000 – c. 3100 BC), or slightly earlier.
[18] Preserved Egyptian wheel bearings consist of an upper pivot and a lower socket usually of basalt, granodiorite or limestone.
[16] To hollow the vessels out, an entry hole was made with a tubular copper flywheel drill, in combination with lose abrasive powder (e.g. quartz sand) which did the actual cutting.
[25][26] In the southern Levant, vessels made from basalt and other hard stones appear in the Early Chalcolithic (c. 5800 – c. 4600 BC).
The exceptional quality of production (symmetrical, thin walls, great surface refinement and elaborate decorations) continued in the Early Bronze Age (c. 3700 – c. 2500 BC).
[31] For example, in Crete, Minoan craftsmen produced their own types of stone vessels throughout the third and second millennium BC, however during certain periods they also imitated, imported and sometimes reworked Egyptian ones.
[1][33] At the beginning of the Naqada II period (c. 3600 – c. 3200 BC), basalt vessels, quarried at the el-Haddadin, start to appear in the tombs of the sites around Maadi.
Tombs include imported Lower Egyptian basalt vessels, and similarly shaped versions made from local materials such as red-white breccia limestone.
For example, the First Dynasty cemetery at Abydos contained c. 50,000 – c. 100,000 vessel fragments of metasiltstone and travertine and c. 10,000 – c. 20,000 of hard stones.
Some features were purely for display an had no practical purpose For example, bowls were made with a cylindrical impression, using large-diameter tube drills, from the First Dynasty onward.
[37] Two unrobbed galleries under Djoser's pyramid were packed with at least 30,000 or c. 90 t (200,000 lb) vessels of mostly travertine, but also of hard stones, for example 892 of gneiss.
[1] Many of the vessels are of types popular during Naqada II or the earlier Dynasties and some are inscribed with the names of Djoser's predecessors, meaning they were heirlooms, private donations, or even plundered or drawn from old stores.
[38] The funerary cash of Hetepheres I at Giza included several traditional stone bowls and oil jars that were left slightly rough.
These special oils took many days to prepare and were associated with cleanliness, the union with gods, the renewal of the body, and the process of passing the seven gates of the underworld.
Sacred oil sets became increasingly common, other stone vessels are used for the opening of the mouth ceremony and Sed festival.
Anorthosite gneiss was replaced by a wide range of local and foreign stones, for example steatite, lapis lazuli, obsidian and carnelian.
[39] The political instability of the Second Intermediate Period caused regional diversity in vessels between the Hyksos and Theban controlled areas.
Small, inscribed vessels of the Hyksos kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty exhibit the finest workmanship and materials (such as obsidian and chert).
[41] At the beginning of the 18th Dynasty, cylindrical jars, kohl pots and baggy alabastra were popular stone vessel types found in many lower elite tombs.
Inscriptions were increasingly common, including liquid measures, Handle types were inspired by jars from Cyprus and the Levant.
They are either smaller models, large inscribed wine and oil jars, or elaborate display vessels with gold, lapis, obsidian and glass inlays.
[45] Gifts from foreign leaders like Mitannia and Babylonia list several ultrahigh value vessels, usually gilded and made from harder stones.
The production of Egyptian-style oil flasks collapsed at the end of the Bronze Age, only to reappear outside of Egypt from the late 8th century BC onward.
