Ancient Egypt Jobs Pictures

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

A pottery vase still shows archaeologists and art historians a great deal about the period in which it was created even if it's broken into dozens of pieces. Pottery sherds are used for dating and to show cross cultural influences. Early clay vessels in Egypt were made with only clay from the Nile, but in time elements like limestone were added in, the shapes changed, finishes (burnishing, glazes, and paints) developed. Some pottery was designed practically and other pottery seems to have been strictly for ornamental use, as in tombs. Terra cotta objects were used where we might use wood, glass, metal, or the ubiquitous plastic. Early dynastic mastabas contain pottery objects thrown on a hand-turned potter's wheel.

The Instructions of Khety has this to say about the life of a potter in ancient Egypt:

"The potter is covered with earth, although his lifetime is still among the living. He burrows in the field more than swine to bake his cooking vessels. His clothes being stiff with mud, his head cloth consists only of rags, so that the air which comes forth from his burning furnace enters his nose. He operates a pestle with his feet with which he himself is pounded, penetrating the courtyard of every house and driving earth into every open place. "

References:

• _{Ancient Egypt: a Social History, by Bruce G. Trigger (1983).}
• _{A History of Art in Ancient Egypt, by Georges Perrot, Charles Chipiez}

_{Image ID: 1505109 Ancient Egypt. [Egyptian pottery]. (ca. 1924-1933) NYPL Digital Gallery}

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