Making pottery in the Nile Delta: ceramic provenance and technology at Naukratis, 6th–3rd centuries BC

The interdisciplinary study of Egyptian- and Greek-style pottery found in the Nile Delta aims to test and expand the potential of different scientific methods to identify regional variation and cultural traditions in ceramic fabrics from a relatively uniform geological setting. Neutron activation analysis (NAA), polarised light microscopy and SEM-EDX analyses were used to examine raw materials and technological tradition in 32 objects, including 15 previously partly analysed pieces, chosen to test the hypotheses of (a) chemical and (b) technological variation between regionally and/or culturally distinct pottery traditions. Several hundred published NAA data from other studies of Egyptian ceramics were re-assessed within this work. Our NAA results confirmed that all 28 objects analysed originated in Egypt, but could not distinguish production centres. Polarised light microscopy clarified the chaine operatoire and highlighted Greek and Egyptian technological traditions and regional variations in the production of macroscopically similar ware (e.g. Black Ware). SEM-EDX was essential in distinguishing different recipes used for slips, suggesting patterns of technological transfer and adaptation.