The unique site of Mersa Gawasis was a base for seaborne trade along the Red Sea coast during the Middle Kingdom. This volume presents the site's wide variety of ceramic material, offering also an interpretation of what pottery reveals about activities at the site.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents Page -- List of Figures -- Foreword and acknowledgements -- Chronology of the Middle Kingdom -- Chapter One -- Introduction: Mersa Gawasis, the background -- Vessel content and capacity -- Chapter Two -- Overall chronology of the site -- Chronological Table of Excavation Units -- Figure 1. Marl B2/C Beer Bottle base resting in a Nile C pot stand -- Figure 2. Rim of a Marl AV2 carinated bowl with incised decoration from WG61 -- Figure 3. Rim similar to Figure 2, from WG71 -- Figure 4. Rims and body sherds with incised decoration -- Figure 5. The almost complete rim of a Marl AV3 water jar with thickened/rolled lip. -- Figure 6. The rim of a Marl AV3 water jar with a direct rim. -- Figure 7. Rim of a decorated marl AV3 bowl with clay button and incised deign -- Figure 8. Detail of incision on Figure 7 showing lines made in wet clay and puncture marks possibly done with a fish bone. -- Figure 10. Marl C bag-shaped cooking pot. -- Figure 9. Marl AV3 sherd with incised decoration and clay swirls. Note the clay creases inside the roll showing how it was finger rolled. -- Chapter Three -- The functioning of the site -- WG19: The production area -- WG 51 Selected body sherds -- WG 49 -- WG61 WG65 -- WG67 -- Pottery and spatial arrangement of the site -- Evidence for locally produced ceramics -- Re-use of pottery -- Ostraca -- Miniature and model vessels -- Discovery and identification of Middle Bronze Age Syro-Palestinian material -- Discovery and identification of Minoan material -- Conclusions -- Figure 11. Typical cup-shaped marl C rim from a large jar. This rim shape is very frequent at Mersa Gawasis. -- Figure12. Nile E cooker rim diameter approximately 14cm. Figure 13. Sherds of a large marl C jar coated on the inside with beeswax. Tracks showing where the soft wax was scraped out of the jar, can be seen clearly in the left-hand picture. -- Figure 14. Sherds of an unusual black jar before restoration. The high level of fragmentation can be seen. -- Figure 15. Wheel made based of the vessel in Figure 14 showing the pre-firing pot mark and the technology used to create the base, a turned ring base which appears to have been applied to the body. -- Figure 16. Sherds in Figure 14 after restoration, note the single nub handle on the left-hand side. There is no evidence of a spout suggesting that this was not a juglet. -- Figure 17. Marl AV2 closed vessel showing rilling lines inside and the smooth finish of the exterior. -- Figure 18. Ring base of Figure 17 showing the ring foot applied over the base which has been scraped. -- Figure 19. Pomegranate shaped vessels from WG 70. -- Figure 20. The reverse of the vessel in Figure 19 showing the grooves left inside by rotary motion and also faint traces of a hieratic inscription in ink, now too faded to read. -- Figure 21. Some of the many counters found at the site, they were re-cut from broken sherds. -- Figure 22. Front and back of a blade shaped scraper, but from a marl AV3 jar, traces of the incised decoration can be seen on the outer surface. These and other shapes of scraper are not uncommon at Mersa Gawasis and draw on the technology used to shape f -- Figure 23. A small fan-shaped tool, very delicately and skilfully made from a fine piece of Nile A or B1. The tipped edge has been shaped with a great deal of care. It appears to be the only example of this type of tool at the site. Figure 24. Large wooden disc showing it fitting into the mouth of a marl C jar. The disc is grooved, with the remains of string inside the groove. This can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. -- Figure 25. Small disc cut from a marl AV3 jar so that it fits like a stopper. Unlike the counters, this disc is grooved around the circumference resembling the wooden disc in Figure 24. Note the very close fit to the diameter of the jar neck. -- Figure 26. Recut sherd with a central hole probably used as a weight for a net. -- Figure 27. Drawing of a miniature funnel-shaped rim from WG 32 in marl AV3 -- Figure 28. Drawing of a miniature corrugated rim in marl C from the entrance to cave 7. -- Figure 29. Drawing of a miniature zir rim in marl C from WG 38. -- Figure 30. Photograph of a miniature water jar rim in Nile B1 fabric from WG32. -- Figure 31. Photograph of the miniature corrugated rim from cave 7 entrance. -- Figure 32. Photograph of a miniature marl C rim from WG 67 inside cave 8. -- Figure 33. Photograph of a miniature rim in Nile B1 with a high quality, red, burnished finish. -- Figure 34. Sherd of a Minoan cup found in WG55. Left-hand side inner surface with white paint, right-hand side outer surface. -- Figure 35. Rime sherd of Minoan fine buff crude ware from WG 55. -- Chapter Four -- Pottery technology -- Techniques used for shaping vessels -- Open forms. Nile clays (Figures 36-49) -- Open Forms. Marl Clays -- Closed forms: marl clays -- Technology Conclusions -- Figure 36. Nile B1 cup: cut base -- Figure 37. Nile B1 cup scraped base -- Figure 38. Nile B1 Cup interior. Note the red washed interior and the spiral left by rotary motion. -- Figure 39. Nile B1 complete cup interior showing the central spiral and thinness of the vessel wall. Figure 40. Nile B1 shallow cup, complete profile with clear scarping of the lower section and traces of a red rim band. -- Figure 41 a and b. Complete Nile B1 cup with a pre-firing repair, plate 41b shows the repair in more detail. -- Figure 42. Nile B2 plate exterior scraped with a red rim and wash, and smooth red washed interior. -- Figure 43. Nile C plate exterior showing heavy scraping -- plate interior with deeply grooved turning marks -- Figure 44a. Marl AV3 bowl with turned rim jointed to the scraped body. Scraping is very evident on the lower section. -- Figure 44b. Bowl with what appears to be a wheel made rim it has a clear join or seam where it attaches to a scraped body. -- Figure 45. Marl AV3 dish with central spiral, scraped exterior and different colours of firing zones. Exterior on the left, interior on the right. -- Figure 46. Marl AV3. Shallow bowl wheel made with uneven and lumpy central spiral from uneven turning. In other respects, this is a well-made vessel demonstrating a high level of technical ability. -- Figure 47. Marl C 'ration type' plate, wheel made with a scraped base, and rim neatened using rotary motion. The interior is well smoothed. The exterior on top, the interior on bottom. -- Figure 48. Marl C cooking vessel with sharply everted lip, it is heavily smoked form use Exterior on left, interior on right -- Figure 49. Marl C bowl exterior on top and interior on bottom Note the high firing resulting in limestone decomposition seen as cream pitting on the surface and also the central spiral. -- Figure 50. Nile B1 Bottle with red burnish outside and on the inner rim. -- Figure 51a and 51b. 15. B2 Bottle base 51a. Exterior with scraping and rope marks and 51b. Interior with turning spiral and coil joins visible. Figure 52a. and 52b.Nile B2 bottle necks 52a. The exterior on the left, the interior on the right with red wash, 52b. uncoated. -- Figure 53. Jar construction: Finger smoothing and detail of coil joins on the inner surface of a marl C Jar. -- Figure 54. Flat base of a large jar base in marl C, Exterior on the left showing the smoothed surface and the join between the wall and the base. Interior of the base on the right showing marks of finger shaping, smoothing and jointing. The flat piece of -- Figure 55. Interior of a marl C jar showing evidence of horizontal coiling and smoothing used to form the flat base and also of vertical smoothing where the wall joins the base. On the right detail of the finger smoothing marks. -- Figure 60. Very clear interior spiral left by turning inside the base of a small marl C jar. The irregularity of the spiral suggests that the wheel turned relatively slowly. -- Figure 56. Internal surface of the rim of a marl C jar a regular with a wheel made rim and the rough joining marks where the wheel made part was attached to the coiled body. -- Figure 57. Wheel made the rim of marl C showing the regularity of shape and the horizontal rilling line typical of a competently wheel made rim. -- Figure 58. The elaborately ridged rim of a marl C jar. This type of shaping would have been done on a wheel using the potter's fingers and simple tools to create the profile. Rilling lines are visible on the inner surface. -- Figure 59a and 59b. 59a. The rim of a large marl AV3 jar showing the way in which clay could be folded over to create a thickened rim. Shapes vary over time during the Middle Kingdom, but the principle of using a folded or rolled thickness of clay remains -- Figure 61. The inner surface of a marl C jar showing the chaotic marks of rough smoothing on the inner surface. Figure 62. Exterior surface of a marl AV3 jar showing the clear change in zones between the smoothed and probable wheel finished upper section and the very rough scraping of the lower part.