The King was sometimes considered to be a god himself, but was more often seen as a go-between for gods and humans via complex rituals and interpretations. The dead were very prominent in the Egyptian’s lives as they were thought to be able to intervene in human affairs. Life after death was a primary belief, and the people thought that their God-King would look after them in the afterlife, so they had to give him a triumphant send off to eternity. For this reason, and the lack of farm work during the months that the Nile flooded, Egyptian native workers, not slaves, willingly worked on the spectacular King’s tombs and other religious buildings (even though it often meant an early death from overwork in their early 30’s). These buildings represented a massive expenditure of resources. The Egyptians imported some basic construction technology and raised it to very high levels of excellence – particularly related to their massive stone buildings. As examples, they built temples with columns 70 ft high and they tunnelled into rock to create the vast necropolis (city of the dead) in the Valley of the Kings. Up to the Middle Kingdom most of the larger buildings were either palaces or to do with death – Royal Tomb complexes, mortuary temples and private tombs.

Early Dynasty lion with black body and red
mane and head UC8847 - Copyright of the
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL

One of the customs they practised when a temple was founded was to dig pits in various locations within its boundary in which to place various objects having ritual significance. These now provide a time capsule for archaeologists. A beautiful pottery figure of a lion was found in such a pit at Hierakonpolis, made of polished red ware, as if glazed. High-ranking officials would have a burial complex of an offering chapel on the surface, in which people could show their respect to the dead person and leave offerings, connected by a shaft to the actual underground vault.

9.28 Pottery in the Old Kingdom

Egyptian houses were mini-factories, usually producing linen cloth from flax plants, bread from grain and for brewing their own beer. They were practically self-sufficient as bread and beer were the staple diet. A pottery mortar may have been used to grind the corn, prior to baking the bread in an oven outside or on the rooftop. Fires were made by rubbing two sticks together using a wood and string fire-bow to rotate the vertical “drill”. However, it was generally not economic for each house to make its own pottery, so the large array and large number of cooking pots and pans, jugs, cups, dishes, jars and bottles, and toys (rattles, dolls and animals) would be acquired from local potters that would be found in each sizeable village. During the Old Kingdom potting was probably a male occupation, assisted by children.

The development of the potter’s wheel in Egypt was to about the same timescale as in Mesopotamia - the potter’s wheel was used in Egypt well before 3,000 BC, as evidenced by the use of grease to ease rotation of the wheel on a stand from the Gerzean period. The potter’s wheel was initially used as a convenience to rotate the vessel during decoration, but increasingly to make the conventional fabrication techniques, such as coiling, more efficient and consistent.

Early Dynasty bread mould UC66146 -
Copyright of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian
Archaeology, UCL

Evidence of the use of the potter’s wheel for finishing the neck and rims of vessels can be seen from circumferential marks on the rims compared with the clear hand-made marks on their bases. Once a pivot was used it speeded up the “slow wheel” and made it more effective. A statuette has been found of an Egyptian potter working a hand-operated wheel, and standing potters using a hand operated wheel are illustrated in a tomb relief carving, both dated to 2,500 BC. However, other methods of forming pots continued, in particular relatively crude ceramic bread moulds that were made in vast quantities. These were hand made around a core or mould known as a patrix. Bread moulds had very thick walls to conserve heat and act as ovens. The advent of the potter’s wheel spurred the development of more refined clay preparation and improved kilns during the Old Kingdom. Hand-in-glove with this came the development of increasingly diverse and decorative shapes, although a large proportion was still made up of bottles, jars and jugs for water transport and storage.