Analytical Study of Some Unfinished Obelisk Quarry Pottery Vessels in Aswan, Egypt, Case Study
Walid Kamel Ali Elghareb

Abstract
Study of components of excavated archaeological pottery from the Eastern Quarry in Aswan by various examination and analysis methods such as Polarized Microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive of X-Ray Unit "SEM- EDX" and X-ray diffraction analysis have played an important role in the identification of pottery technology and its deterioration. The research has revealed a nature of the technological process for the pottery manufacture in unfinished obelisk quarry in the eastern Aswan, Proving that the used clay was Nile clay; Tempers are grog, sand, calcite, and granite powder. Surface treatment was slip layer, while the firing atmosphere was different mix of oxidizing and reducing atmosphere. The type of archaeological pottery fabric was fine to coarse fabric, proving that there is a difference of the manufacturing technology in this site. It also highlighted the difference in the craftsmanship and skill of the manufacturer in selecting the clay, purification, shaping , surface treatment, and firing, Which confirmed that there was no pottery workshop in this archaeological site, but the artifacts came from different places with the residents or pioneers of the eastern quarry in Aswan for cutting granite from the old kingdom to the roman period, or the pottery was brought from different workshops from other sites in Aswan as the western Aswan" Elephantine island". The research also proved deterioration of the pottery fragments as firing atmosphere, salts crystallization such as halite and gypsum, spread of gaps, poor physical structure, and surface deformation by sandy clay soil deposits. The research recommends that it should be selection of appropriate materials and methods in treatment of the pottery in this site such as the cleaning, extraction of salts, consolidation, museum display and storage based on the mineral composition and chemical, mechanical and thermal properties identified by the researcher. It also recommends conducting new excavations to uncover the sites of pottery firing kilns in western Aswan where the residential areas, and its relation to pottery of the unfinished obelisk Quarry.

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