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PREFACE
KarolMyśliwiec
TheproductionofAthribianworkshopsofthePtolemaicPeriod(Myśliwiec1996b;1996;1997a)included,
apartfrompottery(Myśliwiec,Południkiewicz2003;Myśliwiec2000;Południ-kiewicz2000),oillamps
(Młynarczyk2012)andterracottafigurines(Szymańska2005)craftedofNilesiltormarlclay,avariety
ofproductsthatbelongtoacategoryusuallydescribedasflEgyptianfaience”
.Theseincludedvessels,
figurines,amulets,ushebtisandappliedornaments,doubtlessthemostnumerousartifactsproduced
intheseworkshops.TheatelierswerediscoveredbythePolish-Egyptianarchaeologicalmissioninthe
vicinityofKomSidiYousufatTellAtrib,asuburbofBenha,intheyears1985-1999(Myśliwiec2000:11-13
and28-33).
TheconditionsofdepositioninTellAtribarenotconducivetothepreservationofartifactsmadeof
faience.Dependingonthecontextandforemostonthehydrologicalconditionsinwhichtheseobjects,
morefragilethanceramicsmadeofclay,havelainformorethantwomillennia,manyofthemhave
disintegratedcompletelyorhavebeenpreservedaslumpsorpowder.Nevertheless,thenumberand
qualityofthefragmentsthathavebeenpreservedandrecordedbythemissionmakethemarepresentative
assemblage.
Thespecificityofthesiteandthediagnosticfeaturesofthefindsinquestionhavecontributedto
anumberofimportantconclusions.
Firstly,aclearsitestratigraphyrevealedthreeprincipallayerscorrespondingtothreephasesofthe
Ptolemaicperiod:early(fromthebeginningtothereignofPtolemyV),middle(reignofPtolemyVI,the
apogeeofartisticandartisanaldevelopment,andtheyearsimmediatelyafterit)andlate(1stcenturyBC,
possiblyuntilthebeginningoftheRomanperiod).Thestratahavebeendatedsecurelybyarichcollection
ofnumismaticandepigraphicevidence,thelatterintheformofinscribedhandlesofimportedamphorae
(Sztetyłło2000;Krzyżanowska2009;seealsoMyśliwiec2000;2009).Somecontextscouldbedatedwith
evengreaterprecision,especiallythedeepeststratafromthefirsthalfofthePtolemaicperiod,whichwere
hardlydisturbedbylaterrobbing(Myśliwiec2000:28,notes24and25).Consequently,manyobjects,
includingfaienceartifactsfromthetimeofthefirsttwoPtolemiescouldbedistinguishedfromobjects
craftedinthereignsofPtolemyIIIandPtolemyIV.Thiscircumstanceisofparticularimportanceforthe
historyoflocalfaienceproduction.
Secondly,anumberofthefaienceobjectsfoundinthesecontextsprovedtobewasters,whichisan
obviousindicationoflocalproduction.Thetopographicdistributionofthesefragmentsandspecifically
theiraccumulationinoneareacouldbeconsideredanindicationofwheretheproductioncenterwas
located.
Thirdly,onceachronologicalsequenceofthefaiencevessels,especiallythosewithreliefdecoration,
wasestablished,itbecamepossibletodeducesomecharacteristicsoftheirprototypesand,subsequently,
tosuggestpossiblesourcesofinspiration.
PAMMonographSeries5
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