Amphora Recycling in a Funerary Context at Kom Aziza Site

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer at Ain Shams University, Egypt.

2 Archaeologist at Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt.

Abstract

This paper deals with a widespread phenomenon in ancient Egyptian civilization, which is the phenomenon of reusing/recycling pottery in general. It sheds light on one of the tombs that was discovered in one of the archaeological sites in the Beheira Governorate, which is the “Kom Aziza” site. The site was discovered in 1988 by the archaeologist Ahmed Abdel Fattah, and then the site was rediscovered again, by the archaeological mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, headed by archaeologist Ibrahim Sobhi. During this excavation, a large number of tombs were uncovered, extending from the early dynastic period until the end of the Roman era. A number of these tombs used Egyptian Amphorae that were produced in the Mariout region during the period from the first century AD until the third century AD, as they were very widespread all over Egypt. The article discusses the aspects of the reuse of amphorae, emphasizing that their reuse in building tombs in this way is one of the exceptional aspects of Egyptian history.

Keywords


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