The following lines sum up developments in potmark research (primarily Early Dynastic) since the formation of the International Potmark Workshop in 2005 at the conclusion of the Origins of the State 2 conference in Toulouse, France. As such, this is a position paper or balance sheet rather than an abstract, open to discussion and criticism during the Workshop’s first formal meeting on Wednesday 30th July 2008 in London.

To begin with, we may ask: what progress, real or perceived, has been made since Origins 2 in the realm of potmarks research, be it related or unrelated to the present Workshop?

First, two potmark corpora, collated from recent excavations in the Nile Delta and presented in poster form in 2005 in Toulouse, are about to appear in print. They include the corpus from the Early Dynastic cemetery at Kafr Hassan Dawood where excavations have concluded (Hassan et al. 2008), with a second and final installment to be presented during the London session by Geoffrey Tassie et al. (2008). Shortly to appear is the provisional corpus from the Early Dynastic cemetery at Tell el-Farkha, where excavations are still ongoing (Jucha 2008). A third corpus of c. 2,000 additional, thus far unpublished, potmarks deriving from the Early Dynastic royal cemetery at Umm el-Qa‘ab, Abydos, is being prepared for final publication by Eva M. Engel (2008). In addition, a fourth corpus, not of Early Dynastic but of Old Kingdom potmarks, collated from the ceramic assemblage of the Old Kingdom settlement at Giza by Anna Wodzinska (2008), will be of interest as a study in comparison and contrast.

Second, at least two dissertations pertaining to potmark corpora are in progress: Gaëlle Bréand (2005) is working on the final corpus collated from both the Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic settlement and cemetery sites at Adaïma, while Lisa Mawdsley (2006a,b, 2008a) is re-examining the potmarks from the Early Dynastic cemeteries at Tarkhan. Aspects of both corpora will be discussed during the upcoming session (Bréand 2008; Mawdsley 2008b).

Third, a website (htpp://www.potmark-Egypt.com) was launched in early 2007 (van den Brink 2007), with the intention of facilitating shared potmark research by storing in one place all potmarks and available  pertinent data concerning both published and unpublished potmarks together with their relevant publications. Though most of the presently published potmarks have now been uploaded, it is still a (time-consuming) work-in-progress. A number of recent papers concerning potmarks (Mawsdley 2008a; Bréand 2008a; Anselin 2008a) were recently uploaded on this website as downloadable .pdf files prior to their actual publication in Cahiers Caribéeens d’Egyptologie 11, to the benefit of all of the workshop’s participants. The driving force behind this stimulating cooperation is Alain Anselin who, inspired by the potential of the Workshop cum website, has written two potmark-related papers especially for publication on the website only (Anselin 2007a, 2007b). A synopsis of his findings will be presented in the Script as material culture workgroup in London on Thursday 31st July (Anselin 2008b).

The website is, moreover, also intended to facilitate communication between the Workshop’s participants through an e-Forum, intentionally restricted and accessible only to the Workshop’s participants in order to guarantee safety in the free flow of ideas and (un)published information. Unfortunately the beneficial potential of fostering discussions and collective brainstorming via the Forum has not yet been fully exploited. To date, only a few of the Workshop’s members are actively engaging in the Forum and writing and reacting to postings. ‘Non-communication’ rather than ‘communication’ springs to mind when reflecting on the e-Forum at this point in time, something we aim to rectify during the London workshop.

This brings me back to my initial question concerning ‘progress, real or perceived’. Clearly there is a lot of activity at the moment, with new, often site-specific materials being studied and published. But how much closer are we now to a better understanding of the intriguing Early Dynastic potmark system per se since, say, Helck’s 1990 publication, or for that matter, the 2005 establishment of the Workshop?

The latest research has resulted in a higher awareness of, for example, different sets of potmarks having been applied to different pottery types (foremost on wine jars, beer jars and bread moulds), of a possible relation between a certain pottery fabric (marl clays) and specific potmark signs (the floral sign or sm'.w) within  a single class of pottery vessels (wine jars), and of a notable change in the type of potmarks applied to wine jars at the end of Naqada IIID/the First Dynasty (something I hope to demonstrate during the upcoming session based on new data deriving from the Early Dynastic cemetery at Helwan).

Thus, although there is certainly a better understanding of some of the mechanisms at work behind the application of potmarks, we still have not moved much closer to an understanding of what the potmarks actually mean. A concerted effort by all of the Workshop's participants will be required if we are to attain our stated goals. We certainly have our work cut out for us in London!

 

Edwin C. M. van den Brink

 

Israel Antiquities Authority

Jerusalem

Israel

E-mail: edwin@israntique.org.il

Contributors and Pre-Paper Abstracts

The following abstracts have been accepted onto the programme for discussion during the workshop:

Presenter(s)	Affiliation(s)	Title	Paper/Poster
Lisa Mawdsley	Centre for Archaeology and Ancient History, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia	The corpus of potmarks from Tarkhan	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup
Geoffrey J. Tassie; Fekri A. Hassan; Bram V. Calcoen; Joris van Wetering	School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK; Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, UK; Antwerp, Belgium; The Netherlands	More potmarks from the Protodynastic-Early Dynastic site of Kafr Hassan Dawood, Wadi Tumilat, East Delta, Egypt	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup
Anna Wodzinska	Warsaw University, Poland	Potmarks of Early Dynastic Buto and Old Kingdom Giza: their occurrence and economic significance	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup

Pre-Papers

Pre-papers for discussion during the workshop can be downloaded here:

Presenter(s)	Affiliation(s)	Title	Paper/Poster
Lisa Mawdsley	Centre for Archaeology and Ancient History, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia	The corpus of potmarks from Tarkhan	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup
Geoffrey J. Tassie; Fekri A. Hassan; Bram V. Calcoen; Joris van Wetering	School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK; Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, UK; Antwerp, Belgium; The Netherlands	More potmarks from the Protodynastic-Early Dynastic site of Kafr Hassan Dawood, Wadi Tumilat, East Delta, Egypt	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup
Anna Wodzinska	Warsaw University, Poland	Potmarks of Early Dynastic Buto and Old Kingdom Giza: their occurrence and economic significance	Pre-paper: Potmarks workgroup

 

Anselin, A., 2007a. L'intention phonétique. L'âme jambeé des potmarks de la I^e Dynastie. http://www.potmark-egypt.com/Articles.asp

Anselin. A., 2007b. L'intention phonétique II. Meret et le pot-au-feu.
http://www.potmark-egypt.com/Articles.asp 

Anselin, A., 2008a. L'intention phonétique III. Le scribe et le potier. Potmarks and powermarks prédynastiques: du côté des auteurs. CCdE 11: 83-102.

Anselin, A., 2008b. The phonetic Intention. Ideograms and Phonograms in Potmarks of Dynasties 0, I and II. http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

Bréand, G., 2005. Les marques et graffiti sur poteries de l'Egypte pré- et protodynastique. Perspectives de recherches à partir de l'exemple d'Adaïma. Archéo-Nil 15: 17-30.

Bréand, G.,  2008a. Signes sur poteries et enregistrement comptable en Égypte pré et protodynastique. L'exemple du signe des "bâtons brisés". CCdE 11: 37-81.

Bréand, G., 2008b. Pre-firing Potmark Corpus from Adaïma, Upper Egypt (3700–2700 BC).
http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

Engel, E.M., 2008. Early Dynastic Potmarks: A View from Umm el-Qa‘ab, Abydos.
http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

Hassan, F.A.; Tassie, G.; van Wetering, J. & Calcoen, B., 2008. Corpus of Potmarks from the Proto/Early Dynastic Cemetery at Kafr Hassan Dawood, Wadi Tumilat, East Delta [in:] Midant-Reynes, B.; Tristant, Y. (eds.); Rowland, J. & Hendrickx, S. (coll.), Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, Toulouse (France), 5th-8th September 2005. OLA. Leuven / Paris / Dudley (forthcoming).

Helck, W., 1990. Thinitische Topfmarken. ÄA 50. Wiesbaden.

Jucha, M.A., 2008. The Corpus of "Potmarks" from the Graves at Tell el-Farkha [in:] Midant-Reynes, B.; Tristant, Y. (eds.); Rowland, J. & Hendrickx, S. (coll.), Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, Toulouse (France), 5th-8th September 2005. OLA. Leuven / Paris / Dudley (forthcoming).

Mawdsley, L., 2006a. The Potmarks from Tarkhan: An Examination of the administrative Function of First Dynasty Potmarks from Egypt. Unpubl. B. Litt. Thesis, Centre of Archaeology and Ancient History, Monash University.

Mawdsley, L., 2006b. A First Dynasty Egyptian Wine Jar with a Potmark in the Collection of the Australian Institute of Archaeology. Buried History 42: 11-16.

Mawdsley, L., 2008a. Unprovenanced and provenanced Potmarks from Tarkhan. CCdE 11: 19-36.

Mawdsley, L., 2008b. The Corpus of Potmarks from Tarkhan. http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

Tassie, G.; Hassan, F.A.; Calcoen, B. & van Wetering. J.,  2008. More Potmarks from the Protodynastic-Early Dynastic Site of Kafr Hassan Dawood, Wadi Tumilat, East Delta, Egypt. http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

van den Brink, E.C.M., 2007. Potmark-Egypt.com. CCdE 10: 5-8.

Wodzinska, A., 2008. Potmarks of Early Dynastic Buto and Old Kingdom Giza. Their Occurrence and Economic Significance. http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html

Apple, the Apple logo, and Mac are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.