Squee! Pottery

Image via WikipediaIn between colds, UTIs, CFS-flare ups, revenge of the grumpy-ass thyroid, and migraines I've been trying to pull things together for the archaeology day-camp for adults course I'm team teaching this summer.

I found the last time I taught that working out a general outline for lectures and then going to look for pictures for PowerPoint (or whatever presentation software) is often really helpful in getting my own brain in gear for teaching.  So, I tend to go type a few phrases in to Google Image Search and see what turns up. This is also immensely helpful in shutting up the little voice in my head screaming "how on Earth are you going to illustrate *that*?" which sends me into fetal-position procrastination.  Because if I don't work on it at all, somehow that will make it less scary.

Seriously, brains are stupid sometimes.

Anywho, as is often the case with the wonder that is the internets, I inevitably find things that are interesting but not of immediate use.  Like this link:

Project Grant Report | Byzantine Studies | Research | Dumbarton Oaks

Kiln furniture!!!  And fabulous incised sherds.  And those are the wasters - stuff that got chucked after the first firing because it didn't come out quite right.

Hand-made Pots

I was racking my brain for a blog post today and remembered that 3 years ago I was happily exploring the town of Kareima, Sudan just before we set off for our dig sites further north in the 4th cataract.

A few of us went off for a walk near the house we were staying in and literally stumbled upon this pottery production area. I was super excited.

You can see the pots all formed and at the leather-hard stage prior to firing, including the nice little holes in the ground to hold them as they dry.

There's a also a shot of one of the firing pits with wasters and random sherds in it.

There was no one around the whole time we poked around, which was disappointing.

These are all the same type of pot, called a zir. They're made of Nile silt, usually with lots of coarse temper, especially organic stuff like straw, animal dung, palm straw, etc. After firing they're fairly coarse. They're used for water storage - there are stands all over the place for these pots and a cup nearby to sip out of - the answer to water fountains when plumbing isn't that common. The coarse nature of the pottery helps keep the water cool.

In a lot of ways, this mode of production has been the same for thousands of years, which is pretty cool.

The very last photo is from the zir stand/alcove in the house we stayed in.  The zir there was virtually identical to the ones we saw off in the palm groves by the Nile.  Very nifty.

ceramic dish with glass melted in the base

ceramic dish with glass melted in the base
Originally uploaded by hodgepodgearts

I love this ceramic piece. The color variation and texture along with the wonderful effect of the melted glass is wonderful. It puts me in mind of volcano calderas and hot springs and reefs. Exquisite.

Imitation Predynastic Pot

Because I am a huge, huge nerd, I decided that I needed to spiffy up the terracotta planter we bought with some painting.  It took me forever to decide what to do, though, until inspiration struck - I could use some Egyptian motifs!  Now, with a few exceptions, most Egyptian pottery after the Predynastic period is pretty boring, so of course I stuck with the Predynastic.  In particular, I borrowed some motifs from white cross-lined ware - a boat, a dancing figure, and a hippo.  And here is the painted pot, sitting next to some papyrus stalks.