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 McDonald
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
integrate 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.