A number of possible pottery kiln sites (based on the presence of burning, vitrified pottery or the dog-biscit shaped bars of fired clay called fire-dogs) have been located throughout the Predynastic town. One kiln, originally excavated by Ambrose Lansing in 1934 was recleared by Fred Harlan in 1978. It may be the earliest preserved up-draught kiln in Egypt, but because of the previous excavation, its date remains unclear.

Another set of possible kilns was found in small side gullies among the low cliffs flanking the Wadi Abul Suffian. The kiln localities designated as HK67, 39, 40, 59 and 59A appear as a scatter of sherds near rock overhangs and between boulders some 24-28m above the wadi floor. These sites are considered kilns because a large number of wasters (overfired, bloated, warped, burned and vitrified sherds and clay slag) have been found within these sherd scatters. There were, however, no fire-bars or fire cracked stone and little evidence of burning other than the wasters themselves. Nevertheless, an interpretation of the scatters as kiln refuse best explains their unique position. They probably represent the original location of kilns specifically situated to take advantage of the prevailing northerly winds that were funneled down the gullies perhaps to facilitate hotter kiln fires.

These kilns were used to produce fine untempered red polished pottery, made of clay mined in the wadi bed. Found among the scatters are fragments of lovely bowls, some with white painted decoration as well as exceedingly thin and well formed jars and beakers. These are shapes more commonly found in Black-topped red ware--a fine red pottery with a blackened rim, and arguably some of the finest pottery Egypt ever produced.

This pottery was not easy to make. First the clay had to be refined, then the pot was formed entirely by hand. Because the clay was so fine and dense, the slow drying of the pot had to be carefully regulated to prevent warping or cracking. Once dried the vessel was then covered with a coating of red ochre (iron oxide) and then polished with a smooth pebble to create a fine sheen. Only now was it ready to be placed in the kiln. The large amount of misfired vessels at the kiln sites shows that firing the pots was a difficult job as well. How the black top was produced remains a major question and has engendered much discussion over the years.

Some have argued that Black-topped red ware was produced by firing a red polished vessel rim down in ash within the kiln. In this way the blackened rim is produced by a combination of soot and the reduction (oxygen starvation) of the red iron rich coating which turns it black. Others have argued that this method could not have worked, and that a two step method was used in which a red pot was first fired and later placed rim down in hot smoldering ash to produce the blackened rim. The evidence from the kilns in the wadi at Hierakonpolis suggests that the second option is the correct one; black-topping was a secondary, post-kiln, process (although other explanations are still possible!). The paucity of Black-topped sherds at the kiln sites suggests that this two-step process was frozen at an intermediate point. As the vessels from which these sherds originated had been ruined in the first firing, they were not subjected to the secondary black-top treatment. All this evidence together indicates that this lovely, but labor intensive, pottery was made by specialists for special use in graves or as fine china.

The amount of pottery at Hierakonpolis led Hoffman to suggest that Hierakonpolis rose to prominence because of its pottery industry and that its first leaders were pottery barons. However, it is now clear that pottery was just one of the many things being produced at this vast site.

For more information see:

Hendrickx, S. R. Friedman and F. Loyens. 2000.Experimental Archaeology concerning Black-topped Pottery from Ancient Egypt and the Sudan. Cahiers de la Ceramique Egyptienne 6: 171-185.

Geller, J.R. 1984. The Predynastic Ceramics Industry at Hierakonpolis, Egypt. M.A. Thesis. Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri. University Microfilms International

Friedman, R. 1994. Predynastic Settlement Ceramics of Upper Egypt:A Comparative Study of the Ceramics of Hemamieh, Naqada and Hierakonpolis. Ph.D Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. University Microfilms International

Freestone, I and D. Gaimster, 1997. Pottery in the making. World Ceramic traditions. British Museum Press.


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