Related Articles
Egypt Today
An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the area of Tel Kom Aziza in Al-Beheira Governorate discovered (West of the delta), Wednesday. The remains of a huge pottery workshop, date back to the Greco-Roman era.
“This workshop consists of buildings dating back to the period between the third century BC, and the first century AD”, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mustafa Waziri said.
The mission succeeded in discovering the pellet area, the clay forming area, the drying area, and the incineration furnaces of the workshop.
“The pellet area is where the clay is kneaded and mixed with some other additives to increase the homogeneity between its granules. The forming area is the part designated for shaping and polishing pots. Some of the tools used for this purpose were found, such as metal tools, parts of the potter’s wheel, and some parts of clay pots that were formed at that time”, Waziri explained.
“As for the drying area, it is the area where the pots are exposed to the sun for the longest possible time in preparation for the burning process in incinerators, so that the pots are baked and turned into pottery”, he added.
Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities Ayman Ashmawy pointed out, “the incinerators have upper ventilation holes, Updraft Kilns, and are built of red bricks and surrounded by thick walls of mud bricks to withstand the pressure resulting from the burning process”.
Hot gases supply pipes, the discharge pipes which control the temperature inside the oven, and the remains of unburned and raw earthenware pots, were all found in the incinerators.
“Additionally, the mission found a residential settlement and mud-brick houses with some pots for daily use, ovens for cooking, storage silos and some bronze coins. A group of mud-brick burials and tombs with some skeletons buried in a squatting position, covered with a thick layer of silt surrounded with some funerary vessels made of pottery, alabaster and copper”, Head of the Mission Ibrahim Sobhi noted.
It is likely that these burials date back to the beginning of the dynasties, where ancient Egyptians settled in that region from pre-historic times until the Roman era.
