The Introduction of the Potter’s Wheel to Ancient Sudan

Sarah K. Doherty

The Introduction of the Potter’s Wheel to Ancient Sudan

Číslo: 2/2021
Periodikum: Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica
DOI: 10.24916/iansa.2021.2.14

Klíčová slova: potter’s wheel Middle-Late Bronze Age ceramics Sudan Egypt colonisation

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Anotace: Doherty (2015) has previously investigated the origins of the potter’s wheel in Egypt in depth. However,

how the potter’s wheel came to be used in Sudan has not yet been properly analysed. This paper will
present the author’s initial investigations into the pottery industry of Sudan and the manufacturing
techniques employed by Sudanese potters.
Evidence seems to suggest that rather than being an indigenous invention, the potter’s wheel came to
Sudan as part of the colonisation of Sudan by Egypt during the Middle-Late Bronze Age. Throughout
this period, various Egyptian towns were founded along the river Nile. One such town was Amara West
(inhabited c. 1306–1290 BC).
By the Middle Bronze Age, Sudanese potters had well-developed pottery techniques, principally
coil- and slab-building. Amara West and other Egyptian colonies used the by then well-established
wheel-throwing and coiling techniques (RKE) to manufacture their pottery, principally imported from
Egypt. However, these colony towns contained both Sudanese and Egyptian vessels, sometimes in the
same contexts, and occasionally with blended manufacture techniques and decoration. This paper will
endeavour to postulate upon the effect and legacy of the imposed technology of the potter’s wheel on
the Sudanese pottery industry