Vessel, Pottery Jar, Pilgrim Flask, Roman
Country
Egypt
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Object detail
Description
Pottery pilgrim jar. Circular bodied pottery jar with two looped handles on each shoulder, rising to a short narrow neck, which flares to become the rim, the neck decorated with one circular clay ring. Composed of creamy fabric and light brown slip. One face is covered in sediment, suggesting it had been resting in soil on this face for some time. Through these loops a chain or cord could be passed for carrying the bottle or keeping a stopper in place.
Classification
ARCHAEOLOGY Egyptian pot
Production place
Measurements
L200mm x W160mm x D105mm
Media/Materials description
Pottery
Signature/Marks
E224
History and use
This pottery jar was collected from a tomb in Thebes and held grains used to make bread, a staple of the ancient Egyptian diet.
The contents of the pottery vessel included grains of ancient glume wheat emmer (Triticum dicoccum), wheat chaff elements (e.g. Triticum turgidum and T. durum) and hulled six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare var. hexastichum) and fragments of cereal straw (culm) and awn fragments.
The dominance of grain, the absence of weed seeds and the relatively small quantity of chaff/straw elements indicates that specimens derive from a processed crop product. The presence of a few contaminants suggests that the grain was drawn from stored crop product that had not received its final hand-cleaning prior to consumption.
The contents of the pottery vessel included grains of ancient glume wheat emmer (Triticum dicoccum), wheat chaff elements (e.g. Triticum turgidum and T. durum) and hulled six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare var. hexastichum) and fragments of cereal straw (culm) and awn fragments.
The dominance of grain, the absence of weed seeds and the relatively small quantity of chaff/straw elements indicates that specimens derive from a processed crop product. The presence of a few contaminants suggests that the grain was drawn from stored crop product that had not received its final hand-cleaning prior to consumption.
Associated person
Registration number
E40052.1