The Function of New Kingdom Pottery Vessels from Tomb 30 at Dahshur North

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the function of pottery vessels dating to the late Eighteenth Dynasty from Tomb 30 at New Kingdom cemetery in Dahshur North. As a result of the author’s examination, the pottery vessels from Tomb 30 have been classified into the following four groups according to their function: ‘pottery vessels used for votive offerings,’ ‘pottery vessels related to the ritual of “breaking the red pots”,’ ‘pottery vessels associated with the activity of “pouring black resin”’ and ‘pottery vessels used as container for commodities.’ The present study has demonstrated some aspect of functions of pottery vessels from the tomb during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. In addition to the previous studies on burial customs in the New Kingdom which had mainly focused on texts and iconographic evidences, the study has revealed what was actually done in the tomb from physical evidences. Notably, the study has shown some differences in burial customs between tombs with superstructures at Saqqara and tombs with no obvious superstructures at Dahshur North. Furthermore, the study has indicated the evidence of the activity of ‘pouring black resin’ which is not known from texts or iconographic sources thus far, and the production of stone imitation pottery vessels at Dahshur North area which had thus far been assumed to be limited to the Theban area. Further research on pottery from Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasty tombs at Dahshur North will demonstrate diachronic changes in the function of pottery vessels used in funerals in New Kingdom Egypt.