On the Tracks of Aswan Pink Clay. New Studies on the Local Clay Deposits in the Region of Aswan/Upper Egypt

Using Ptolemaic to late antiquity pottery assemblages from Aswan (ancient Syene) as a case study, we demonstrate the imperative nature of petrographic analyses combined with geological field surveys when investigating ancient potting centres. The combination of archaeological (i.e. abundance of ceramics, vessel shapes etc.), macroscopic and natural-scientific methods allows the reconstruction of the possible extraction areas of clays utilised in Aswan, Upper Egypt. Knowledge of specific clays and their compositional characteristics helps to establish archaeometric reference groups, necessary for differentiating kaolinitic clay sediments of the Aswan area from similar geological environments further down the Nile valley.