Recent Excavations at the Pharaonic Port of Mersa Gawasis on the Red Sea, 2004-2005 Field Season

Ceramics

Excavated ceramics are of both Red Nile Silts and Marl Ware, imported from the Egyptian Nile valley. Organic-tempered ceramics, for tuyères, crucibles, furnace walls, and some rough-ware pots excavated in the industrial area (WG 19/25/26/27) were probably made with local clay.
A few sherds of Middle Nubian Ware were excavated in WG 24 and WG 19/25/26/27.

Two "exotic" potsherds were also excavated:
1) A potsherd of a ware from the Red Sea coast in northern Yemen (personal communication, Maurizio Tosi), in WG 24;
2) A polishing tool made from a reused sherd of a Black-topped Ware vessel decorated with a rim-band of engraved triangles, possibly from Eritrea, in WG 28.

Comparison of diagnostic potsherds from excavated units at Wadi Gawasis with vessels from other pharaonic sites provides a basic outline of the site's chronological sequence, as follows:
1) Most stratigraphic units (SU) in WG 24 date from the end of the 2nd Intermediate Period to the first half of the New Kingdom. Ceramics in SU 20, SU 21, SU 24, and SU 26 are associated with the two steering oars and date from the late 2nd Intermediate Period to the early 18th Dynasty. These ceramics are decorated with simple alternating horizontal lines in red and black, mainly on the upper body, neck, and rim. An 18th Dynasty dating of the upper strata at WG 24 is also supported by the occurrence of cylindrical necked jars similar to 18th Dynasty ones from Thebes, Memphis, and Amarna, and bottles with a high projecting neck similar to 18th Dynasty ones from Thebes (see Holthoer 1977: Plates 23, 24, 30, 31; Pl. 25, CU2 and CU3; Pl. 26, CU3, CU4, and GO2; Williams 1993: Fig. 117).
2) All stratigraphic units in WG 28 date from the late 1st Intermediate Period to early Middle Kingdom, and most likely to the 11th Dynasty. These ceramics include Red Nile Silt collared jars, and medium to small open carinated bowls of Marl Ware, which occur mainly in 11th Dynasty assemblages (see Kelley 1976: Pl. 37.2, No. 22 from Qurnah; Pl. 34, No. 47L from Qaw and Badari; Pl. 40.6, No. 460/3 from the ceramic assemblage of Middle Kingdom tombs at Lahun).
3) Ceramics from WG 19/25/26/27 point to two main periods of use: from the late 1st Intermediate Period to early Middle Kingdom, and the late Middle Kingdom to early 2nd Intermediate Period (see Kelley 1976: Pl. 34.4, types 66N and 66O from Qaw and Badari; Jacquet-Gordon 1993: p. 12, Fig. 4, No. 1-2).