Functional Aspects of Egyptian Ceramics in their Archaeological Context: Proceedings of a Conference held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, July 24th - July 25th, 2009

This volume presents the papers given at an international conference on "Functional Aspects of Egyptian Ceramics within their Archaeological Context", which was held from 24th to 25th July, 2009 at the Mc Donald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK. The aim of this conference was to discuss Egyptian pottery in different archaeological contexts and the employment of ceramics for understanding these deposits. At the same time some archaeological contexts were utilised to gain insights into the function of pottery, in order to intergrate both approaches. The papers cover domestic, funerary, festival, and ritual contexts and the ceramic finds within them. Additional topics are the widely neglected reuse of pottery and how ceramic material can be interpreted in its wider socio-economic context. The case studies discuss pottery derived from many sites in Egypt from the Delta in the north to Elephantine in the south, and cover a chronological range from the Old Kingdom to the Coptic period. This broad approach ensures that the focus was on the role of Egyptian pottery within past societies as seen through various types of archaeological contexts. This volume provides archaeological and ceramic insights that are significant beyond Ancient Egypt.