INCENSE BURNERS OF THE LATE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD IN EGYPT: AN EXAMINATION OF THE EVIDENCE FROM THREE SITES PATRICIA V. PODZORSKI Predynastic objects of a variety of forms have been identified as incense burn- ers. The simplest form of incense burner is the plain bowl. An apparently related type is the bowl with perforated lid. A series of large, relatively rare pedestalled dishes or bowls from late Predynastic/Early Dynastic Egyptian contexts have also been identi- fied as incense burners (Baumgartel 1955,99) and fire or offering stands (Herdstander and Opferstdnder, respectively; Frankfort 1924, 127-29). Alternately, these pedes- talled dishes have been described as tables and altars (Petrie and Quibell 1896, 20; Petrie 1902, 14; de Morgan 1897, 123; Green and Lythgoe 1900, 9; Lythgoe 1901b, 15, 25; Spencer 1980, 48) or pot stands (de Morgan 1897, 122). None of the sources cited contains a critical analysis of Predynastic incense burners. The following study will examine these three proposed forms of incense burners (plain bowls, lidded bowls, and pedestalled bowls or dishes) from three Upper Egyptian sites. The impetus for this study came from research on objects recovered by Albert M. Lythgoe (1901a) from the northern cemetery of Ballas1 during the excavations of the Hearst Egyptian Expedition of the University of California between 1900 and 1901. Objects of the three types under discussion are also found among the remains from two other sites in the collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley.2 These other sites are the Predynastic cemeteries of el-Ahaiwah, which was situated on the east bank of the Nile about eigh- teen miles (30 km) north of Abydos (Lythgoe 1901b), and Shurafa3 which was be- tween Coptos and Qena also on the east side of the Nile (Green and Lythgoe 1900; Reisner 1900, 9). Excavations at these two sites were conducted between 1899 and 1901. These three Predynastic cemeteries excavated by the Hearst Expedition date predominantly to the Nagada II and III.4 Before presenting the descriptions of the objects under consideration, I would like briefly to consider the question: "What is an incense burner?" Or, to be more precise, what are the criteria by which an archaeological incense burner can be identi- Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 23 fied? The identification of functional constraints on the form of an object can give clues to its purpose or use (Rice 1987, 211-12). As far as I can conceive, there is no necessary and sufficient shape required for an object to function as an incense burner. Thus we can place no a priori constraints on what we might expect an incense burner to look like. Another method for identifying the function of archaeological objects is by analogy, either historic (Rice 1987,210) or ethnographic (Longacre 1991). Old King- dom tomb reliefs, which are sometimes captioned, often identify the function of ob- jects and show them in use. In these reliefs incense burners usually appear as a bowl with basal handle covered by a lid with a central knob (Junker 1953, fig.15; Martin 1979, pI.7.1). An unusual variant is the plain, round-bottomed bowl covered by a lid with loop handle (Junker 1941, fig. Sb). A rare archaeological example of a metal bowl with lid used as an incense burner is also known from the Old Kingdom (Fischer 1979, 916 n.10). The incense burner in the form of a bowl can be difficult to distin- guish from a bowl used for some other purpose, such as a lamp (ibid., 913). The two- piece incense burner with basal handle and lid with central knob is more distinctive, so, if found, these pieces should be recognizable. Unfortunately there do not appear to be any Predynastic objects which have the distinctive form of the Old Kingdom incense burners. Other important evidence for reconstructing the functions of archaeological objects comes from direct evidence of use and use wear analysis (Rice 1987,232-36). Vessel contents and physical alterations to the object which resulted from its use are typical sources of these types of information. When an object is in physical proximity to fire, soot may be deposited on its surface (ibid., 235-36). On ceramics, it can be difficult to distinguish between dark marks which result from the firing process and post-manufacture carbon staining. Black staining can also be the result of the gradual decomposition and oxidization of organic material over time, as well as other fac- tors.5 For the identification of incense burners, a telling feature is a coating of soot deposited by the burning of the incense within or on the vessel. However, lamps and braziers also may have carbon deposits on interior vessel surfaces. Intuitively, the differential identification of an incense burner from a lamp (Fischer 1979, 913, 915 n.3) from a brazier is difficult. Part of a floating wick laid on the edge of a bowl and the burning of a small pellet or pile of incense might produce spots of similar appear- ance. An object used as a brazier would probably have soot all over the interior, but so might an incense burner or lamp which was used repeatedly. The material burned could perhaps be determined through chemical analysis of the soot, since several types of ancient Egyptian incense have been documented (Lucas 1962, 90-97), pro- vided that the incense used could always be distinguished from other organic oils or resins which were burned in lamps or braziers (Fischer 1979, 915). In summary, there appear to be no functional constraints which condition the shape which an incense burner might take. Historical analogy with incense burners of later periods is not helpful since the recognized shapes of later dynastic specimens are either general and indistinct (plain bowls) or specific (knobbed lid and base) and not present in the period under discussion. Use wear evidence might be helpful, but by itself does not permit the making of absolute distinctions among incense burners, lamps, and small braziers in most cases. Consequently, the identification of incense burners presented below must be, to some extent, intuitive. 24 Egyptian Pottery DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS This section contains physical descriptions of the three possible forms of incense burners under consideration. The shape, material, and technique of manufacture of each group of objects are discussed. A) PLAIN BOWLS Based solely on form (see above), the identification of a plain bowl that might have been used to burn incense is impossible. For simple bowls the identification of their function as incense burners must be based on other criteria, such as direct evidence of use. The available evidence for the identification of specific bowls as incense burners or lamps is presented below in the section on direct evidence of use. Neither the northern cemetery of Ballas nor Shurafa produced plain bowls which show clear evi- dence of use as incense burners. A few bowls from el-Ahaiwah tombs were identified as perhaps having been used as either incense burners or lamps. The three, or perhaps four, bowls are all of similar shape and material (table 2.1). Two pieces are flaring rim bowls with flat bases, one large (R26F)6 and one shallow saucer (R24M). The third is a small, flat- bottomed bowl (R23b)7 with straight walls. The fourth, problematic specimen is an- other shallow saucer (R24M). All of these bowls appear to be handmade of Nile silt fabrics. Chopped straw of various sizes is the most conspicuous tempering agent.8 Sand is also a common nonplastic inclusion and small (< 2 mm) rock bits are also found. Analysis of the complete grave assemblages for these tombs for purposes of identifying the relative ceramic chronology indicates that they all date to the Nagada II (Kaiser 1957). In terms of sequence dates, they belong to S.D. 75 to S.D. 80 (Petrie 1901), at the very end of the Predynastic or beginning of the Early Dynastic period. B) BOWLS WITH PIERCED LIDS An apparently previously unreported type of object which may have functioned as an incense burner was noted among the ceramics recovered from the northern cemetery of Ballas. This object, which is actually made up of two parts, consists of a bowl with Table 2.1 Bowls with Soot Stains from el-Ahaiwah. TOMB TYPE* DATE BODY MARKS PLACE OTHER 46-3 R26kF, NIlla2-b 1 Adult 2 spots on rim, Above head 6-17508 Flared many small on Side tomb, interior base pdstl. dish 98-1 R23b27, NIIIal 1 Adult Below rim and Lower wall, 6-17753 Straight @ interior base behind body 140-5 R24M, NIlla228 1 Adult 4 ring spots on Before body 6-17943 Flared rim in coffin 23 1-9 R24M, NIIIal-a2 None 1 spot on rim, Fill 6-18280 (?) Flared small spots base * Petrie type followed by rim form. Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 25 Figure 2.1 Bowl with pierced lid from Ballas Grave 200 (6-5720 and 6-5717). a separate lid (fig. 2.1). The lid is pierced by a number of triangular holes. A second lid with triangular holes was also found at Ballas. This indicates that while this form is rare, it is not unique. The bowl with lid was found in Ballas grave 200. The lower portion (6-5717) is straight sided with a slightly concave base that is smaller than the rim diameter of the piece. An interesting feature is the inner flange which supports the lid. In form this is similar to the inner rim found on Predynastic ceramics in Petrie's N ware group and, more rarely, in the L and D wares.9 The Ballas specimen is not pierced by the four small, evenly spaced holes commonly found in the other examples. The lid (6-5720) is conical and has been pierced by eleven triangular holes which were cut through from the exterior. The interior margins of the holes are only roughly smoothed. The exterior surfaces of both pieces have been smoothed and neither piece appears to have been slipped or painted. Both halves are handmade of a Nile silt fabric with large amounts of chopped straw temper'0 and a few small white bits of CaC03. Ballas tomb 66 contained a pierced lid similar to that from B200, but with only seven triangular holes (6-5016) cut through from the exterior. The interior of the piece was unsmoothed and bits of clay from the edges of the holes are still present. The smoothed convex exterior and the unsmoothed concave interior permits identifi- cation of this piece as a lid rather than some other object which would function in the inverse orientation as a sieve or a strainer. The lid from B66 is hemispherical rather than conical in shape and is handmade of a hard pink fabric with small CaCO3 inclu- sions. There are no traces of slip or paint. According to the field notes, there is no evidence of a bowl which might have gone with this lid. Based on the associated ceramics, these two tombs date to the Nagada 111a2 or ITIb using Kaiser's earlier notation (1957). These objects belong to S.D. 76 to 79 using Petrie's dating system (1901). C) PEDESTALLED BOWLS OR DISHES The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology has records for twenty pedestalled 26 Egyptian Pottery Figure 2.2 Pedes- talled bowl with lip cup. dishes or bowls excavated by the Hearst Egyptian Expedition from the sites of el-Ahaiwah, Shurafa, and the northern cemetery of Ballas (table 2.2). Sixteen of these are now housed in the museum's collections. The whereabouts of the remaining four are unknown. In form this type of object is essentially a large bowl or shallow dish attached to a pot stand (fig. 2.2). The pedestal is always pierced by two or more holes. The shape of these holes is either triangular or round. A rare variation found at Shurafa and el-Ahaiwah has alternating round and triangular holes. Another variation found only at el-Ahaiwah is the paired set of round holes, one directly above the other. The triangular holes are always oriented point up, and were made by cutting the three sides of the triangle with a thin, sharp object. The round holes were poked through from the exterior using a finger or stick. The interior margins of the holes are often very rough, showing unsmoothed edges and turned over bits of clay. The exterior hole margins are always smoothed. Although it is difficult to make exact statements due to the small sample size, for these three sites it seems that both types of holes were found throughout the entire period of use of these objects, although triangles tend to be more common earlier and round holes more popular later. The holes are usually placed at roughly equidistant intervals at approximately the mid-level of the pedestal. If only two holes are present, they are on opposite sides of the base. The most commonly encountered number of holes is four (eight examples)." Two ex- amples of bases with five triangular holes were also found and one specimen has eight round holes. Only one specimen (6-5615) has one round hole cut vertically through the dish into the pedestal. The exterior of the base is usually smoothed, rarely covered with a slip or wash (6-17451(?) and 6-17850), and never burnished. Oddly enough, the interior of the pedestal is often very regular, having evident turning marks, while the exterior surface is slightly lumpy. The base rim is most often rolled over onto the exterior of the pedestal. There are three examples of the simple everted base rim (6-18 172; 6-9400; 6-5775). The tops of these pieces are most often in the form of shallow dishes. In only one example is the dish deep enough to be called a bowl (6-5577). This piece has a Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 27 eq .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ V-- o X 0 1> 0 a4aqaB9o ao.a3 1 3 C~~~~~~~~~a V4 f 3t ]?j , !,x, cT *M~~~~~~~~~~~~~~c *0 0 0~~~~~ ( C8 co~ ts vt t o .- .o 0*o a~~~~ a - S 0 ;t3Ir2 5f _ ,5 z i " i 5 co c~~~~. ~~~~~. ~ ~~~~~~~ .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~F - 28 Egyptian Pottery rounded upper rim which is quite distinct from the rims found on the other pieces. Most have a deep triangular rim that, in some specimens, appears to have been turned out, folded down and under, and then bevelled. The interior of the dish is sometimes coated with a red slip or wash, although in a few instances both the inside and outside of the bowl are slipped (6-17451, 6- 175 10, and 6-18943). There seems to be regional variation in regard to the finish on the dish. At Shurafa and Ballas only one or perhaps two of the nine preserved tops were slipped (6-5565 and 6-5615?), while all of the dishes from el-Ahaiwah had been slipped. Burnishing is found only on the interior of the bowl. The most common pattern is radial burnishing, where the burnishing strokes start at the rim and end in the center (five examples; 6-5565, 6-17850, 6-17451, 6-17458, and 6-18943). Crude burnishing which crosses the entire width of the bowl is found in only two examples.12 A feature found on some of these pieces is where a section of the rim of the dish has been divided off by the addition of a small semi-circular ridge, creating what I term a rim or lip cup (fig. 2.3). Separating a small portion of the interior rim of a bowl or dish in this manner is known from pieces that date back to the Nagada I (Brunton and Caton-Thompson 1928, pl. XXXVIII.F8m). On the pedestalled dishes of the late Predynastic the lip cup may be a simple arc or it may be elaborated in at least two ways. From Ballas (6-5615) and el-Ahaiwah (6-17458) are examples of linear marks crudely incised in the rim at the ends of the arc of the lip cup13 (fig. 2.3a). The significance of these little marks was a mystery to me until I noticed a fragmen- tary object recorded as coming from Tomb 1, Locality 27 at Hierakonpolis and iden- tified as a "Ka bowl" (Hoffman 1982, 37, pl. 1.2). The preserved proper right half of the lip cup has been modelled in high relief in the shape of a human arm and hand. It seems likely that crude ka signs were intended on the two pieces from the Hearst collection as well.14 A pedestalled dish from Shurafa has another variant of the lip cup. This one may have been intended to depict an offering. Here we see the head of an animal with large round eyes and long, curved horns (fig. 2.3b). Apparently this depicts the head of a bovine.15 The fabric of these pieces is always Nile silt with chopped straw (length ?5 mm) added as the most conspicuous tempering agent. Often CaC03 in lumps up to 0.5 cm large are also included. Sand in various quantities is seen as well, although this may not have been intentionally added as a tempering agent. Other occasional nonplastic inclusions are flint and rock bits, grog, and small shiny plates similar to black and white mica. All of the pieces examined from these three sites appear to have been hand formed rather than wheel thrown. There is no clear evidence for the precise method of construction (either coiling or building from small lumps of clay). The concentric orientation of straw voids on the upper surface of the dishes and on the interior of the bases indicates finishing on a turning device. It is difficult to determine exactly the method of attachment of the pedestal to the bowl in these objects. Radiographs were taken of two specimens, but due to the densities of the overlapping structures recorded by the X rays, few structural details could be identified. From external evidence and examination of available broken edges,16 it seems that, rather than an actual bowl and pot stand being attached to each other, the pedestal and center bottom of the bowl were made by hand building and turning; then a wide ring forming the remainder of the dish was added. Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 29 a_ Figure 2.3 Decorated lip or rim cups. Based on those specimens which come from datable tombs, the pedestalled dishes range in date from phase I1a2 to IIb of the Nagada (Kaiser 1957)., that is,from the late Predynastic to the first half of Dynasty I. Sequence dates (Petrie 1901) for the tombs are from S.D. 77 to 80/8 1, again the very latest Predynastic to the earliest Dynastic. DIRECT EVIDENCE OF USE Direct evidence of use and use wear analysis contribute much to our understanding of the function of objects. Direct evidence of use in these specimens is indicated by the presence of soot deposits or, in some instances more significantly, the lack of these deposits. The archaeological context of an object is the first direct evidence of use for an object that the archaeologist encounters and the last use to which an object was subjected by its original users.Y7 All of the specimens under discussion, even though some are from disturbed contexts, come from cemeteries. This signifies a funerary function. The mortuary function of both lamps and incense burners is well attested in dynastic times (Fischer 1979), and it may be that these practices had corollaries which extended back into the Predynastic period. A) PLAIN BOWLS The preserved bowls from Ballas, Shurafa, and el-Ahaiwah were carefully examined in order to determine if any had surface alterations or deposits which could be inter- preted as the byproduct of the burning of incense. As mentioned above, distinguish- ing among lamp, brazier, and incense staining may not be possible visually. None of the bowls from Ballas had signs of dark staining that might be inter- preted as evidence of use as an incense burner. Several bowls with suspicious dark marks were found among the specimens from Shurafa and el-Ahaiwah, but only those which I felt exhibited the clearest evidence of soot deposition are presented below. Among the preserved bowls from Shurafa, two specimens have dark marks that might possibly be interpreted as evidence of the burning of incense. However, these marks 30 Egyptian Pottery could also be interpreted as resulting from irregularities in the firing process (6-9561) or slow organic decomposition (6-9390) and were excluded from the following analysis. A total of twelve bowls from el-Ahaiwah have dark patches on their interior surfaces which appear to be carbon stains.'8 Only four or perhaps five exhibit what I consider "unequivocal" soot marks. One of these bowls is an intrusive piece dating to the Third Intermediate period (6-17847) and is not included in this discussion of Predy- nastic incense burners. Only three or four bowls from el-Ahaiwah exhibit stains which I would inter- pret, with a fair degree of confidence, as soot marks from post-manufacture processes. Dark spots about 2-6 cm in diameter are found most frequently on the rims of these Rough ware bowls. The interior bottoms of these bowls may have either a single large dark stain (6-17753) or many small dark marks (6-17508, 6-18280) or no stain at all (6-17943). There are between one and four dark spots on the rims. The four spots on the specimen from B140 (6-17943) are fairly evenly spaced around the pe- rimeter of the bowl. Distinguishing between lamp wick staining and incense pellet staining is difficult if not impossible. In this latter specimen the four dark marks on the rim are in the form of rings rather than solid patches of soot. Soot is deposited around the margin of the actual flame (Rice 1987, 235), indicating that whatever sat in the rim of this bowl was not itself consumed by the fire. Perhaps this is evidence of wicks laid on the flared rim of the bowl. Also, it seems unlikely that rounded pellets of incense, that are the form commonly depicted in dynastic reliefs (Goyon 1983,84), could be set on the inward sloping rim of the bowl and not roll down. Thus it may be that the three specimens (from tombs B46, B 140, and B23 1?) that have soot patches on their rims were used as lamps rather than as incense burners. Again, I must caution that this tentative identification of lamp staining vs. incense staining is intuitive and has not been proven experimentally or otherwise. The fourth specimen, which had heavy dark staining on the interior of the bowl and along the wall below the rim, could have served as incense burner, lamp, or small brazier. I can envision no practi- cal way to differentiate the function based on the available evidence. The placement within the grave of the three most likely specimens is prob- ably original. Grave 46 was untouched when found. Graves 140 and 98 had been plundered, but the ceramics appear undisturbed. Only the specimen from grave 231 was found in fill. There is no consistency in the placement of these objects within the tomb in the small sample under consideration. Two were close to the body (B46 and B 140) while the third had been placed in a less intimate location behind the body at the level of or below the feet.19 The actual function of incense burners and lamps from prehistoric tomb contexts is unknown, although it is likely that practices known from Dynastic times, such as leaving a burning lamp in the tomb and the burning of incense during burial rites (Fischer 1979; Goyon 1983), had roots in the Predynastic past. B) BOWL WITH PIERCED LID The conical lid from Ballas grave 200 has distinct carbon deposits on its interior and exterior surfaces. There are also a few carbon marks on the interior of the bowl, although these are faint when compared to those on the lid. The second pierced lid from Ballas is in a "like-new" condition and has no stains or deposits on it. Again, as the pieces from Ballas are from a cemetery, a mortuary function is implied. The analysis of micro-spatial placement is not very useful, due to the small Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 31 sample and the fact that both graves had been plundered. In Ballas 66 the lid was found in fill of the shaft.20 The two pieces from Ballas 200 were, according to the tomb plan (Lythgoe 1901a, 67), found lying on the floor of the grave next to each other just below and to the left of center. The close proximity of the two parts may indicate that they were little disturbed from their original position, which might have been behind the back of the body or toward the foot of the grave. C) PEDESTALLED DISHES Careful examination of the pedestalled bowl and dishes revealed no evidence of car- bon deposits on the upper surface of any of these pieces. In two instances blackening was noted at the top of the interior of the pedestal, but in one case a reddened ring around the black pointed to the interpretation of this feature as a byproduct of firing. The position of a black spot on the underside of the dish is where one would expect smoke and other gases to be trapped during firing if the object were fired standing in an upright position. The micro-spatial associational information gives no clue as to the specific function of the object. At Ballas there was a slight preference for placement of pedes- talled dishes above the head of the deceased, usually in the upper right corner of the grave (table 2.2). There was one instance of the dish being placed along the edge of the grave at the level of the face (B 164). Other placements are once in the lower left (B151) and once in the lower right corner of the grave (BIll). In two cases pottery vessels were found resting on top of the upper surface. In one undisturbed grave (Bill) a large bowl22 had been left inverted over the dish, probably intended to protect something long since decayed that had been laid on its surface. In another instance (B 151) a small bag jar23 was found standing upright in the center of the dish. This grave was disturbed, how- ever, and we cannot be sure if the placement is original. The two tombs which contained pedestalled dishes at Shurafa were heavily disturbed and no locational evidence is known. However, it is interesting to note that Shurafa tomb 30 contained the remains of two individuals and two offering tables, perhaps one for each occupant. At el-Ahaiwah only four of the seven known pedestalled dishes can be placed within the tomb (table 2.2). In two instances the objects were found inverted, in apparently undisturbed tombs, once over the feet of the occupant (A46), perhaps due to the very limited available space, and once in the shaft outside of the burial cham- ber, opposite the face of the deceased (A3 1). In the two other examples known to us, the pedestalled dishes were found in the upper right (A205) and lower right corners of the grave (Al26). No examples of objects being placed on top of the dish are known from this cemetery. LITERATURE REVIEW A) PLAIN BOWLS References to bowls which may have served as lamps, incense burners, or braziers in the archaeological literature of Predynastic Egypt are extremely rare. I suspect this is due to lack of attention on the part of excavators to the subtle traces such use leaves on the object rather than a total absence of evidence. Petrie reported finding two small shallow bowls in an Early Dynastic grave at Tarkhan (Petrie, Wainwright, and Gardiner 1913, 11, pl. LXVI).24 These bowls had been left in the grave with one lying 32 Egyptian Pottery inverted on top of the other. Bits of charcoal were found in the bottom bowl, and smoke stains were visible on the interior of the upper one. Petrie described this as a "'fire offering." What may be a lamp was found in the remains of the Predynastic village of Hemamieh (Brunton and Caton-Thompson 1928, 61, pl. LIV #21). One edge of this small shallow saucer had been pulled outward to form a spout. The bottom of the bowl was covered with a thick, black deposit. The non-mortuary con- text of this piece should be remembered. B) BOWL WITH PIERCED LID As mentioned above, no parallels to the low, flat-based bowl with inner rim and lid with triangular holes have been identified, although pots with inner rims are not un- known in the Predynastic. The pierced conical or rounded lids are not found in either Petrie's Prehistoric or Proto-Dynastic corpora, although unpierced conical lids were noted by Petrie.25 At this time I have not been able to locate references to similar objects in the literature, and no comparisons with other sites can be made. C) PEDESTALLED BOWL OR DISH Petrie was the among the first to identify this type of artifact. In his description of Nagada grave 112 he referred to this object as a "table-stand" and designated it as his type L86 (Petrie and Quibell 1896, 20, XLI, LXXXII). He later added subclasses to the type (Petrie 1921, LI). Petrie recovered three other variants of this form atAbydos which he dated to S.D. 78 (Petrie 1902, 14, pl. XXXV.195-97; Petrie 1953, pl. XXX.100T,U,Y). He also stated that the "combined bowls and stands" disappear after the Third Dynasty (Petrie 1902, 14), although in fact pedestalled bowls, dishes, and cups of various forms are found throughout Egyptian history (Kelley 1976, pI. 14.9, 40.13, 58.6). Petrie identified a unique red line decorated pot from the southern cemetery of Ballas (grave 394) which he thought might have been used as a cooking brazier (Petrie and Quibell 1896,41, pl. XXXV.76). This specimen, type D76, is in the form of a deep, hole-mouth bowl on a pierced stand. Baumgartel considered this piece to be an incense burner (Baumgartel 1955, 98-99). As part of his monograph on the indigenous character of the Predynastic Egyp- tians, Jacques de Morgan published a drawing of a pedestalled bowl that he had exca- vated in the Nagada region. He identified this object as a "table" (de Morgan 1897, 122, fig. 386). In the preceding figures (382-85) he reproduces Petrie's drawings of Predynastic tables and pot stands of Corpus types L84b, L85, L86 and L88. Curi- ously, there he includes Petrie's class L86 as one of the "supports pour vases a fond pointu" (ibid., 122), that is, pot stands. Quibell (1904, 137) included a more complete description of this piece in his volume on Archaic objects in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (J. d'E. 31820). There he referred to the object as "a circular dish and stand in one." In their field notes on the excavations at Shurafa and el-Ahaiwah F. W. Green and Albert Lythgoe identified these objects as offering tables, stands, or altars (Green and Lythgoe 1900, 9; Lythgoe 1901b, 15, 25). Henri Frankcfort (1924, 127-29) has discussed the possible Mesopotamnian origins of pot stands and offering stands based on analogies of shape with objects found at the lowest level of the Ishtar temple at Assur. The excavator, Dr. Andrae, identified the tall, narrow, and usually hollow tubular stands as Opferstander (offer- Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 33 ing stands) and the shorter stands with solid tops as Herdstander (fire stands). Frank- fort states that "the two classes do not differ in essential features and use." Andrae also postulated that the holes through the pedestals of these objects would have helped them function as incense burners. Although Frankfort indicates that this may or may not have been the case, he goes on to say that Andrae has succeeded in "proving ... that both classes of stands served to hold flowers and other offerings. . ." Frankfort identifies Petrie's type L84b (a ring stand) and the table-stand L86 as Herdstander (ibid., 128, fig. 13g,h). A few sentences later he described type L86 as a "secondary type" of Herdstdnder "with bowl and stand made all in one" which were later ab- sorbed into the ordinary pot stands. Frankfort also notes that the earliest known Egyp- tian Herdstdnder and Opferstander appear among the cached temple fumiture at Hierakonpolis. Baumgartel (1955, 99) has identified objects from Petrie's class L86 as in- cense burners without attempting to justify her interpretation. She cites Frankfort as having demonstrated the Mesopotamian connection for these objects and the pot stands, ignoring the fact that Frankfort never called them incense burners, but only "Herdstander" (fire stands). Most recently, A. J. Spencer (1980, 48, no. 340) has identified the type of artifact as a table. CONCLUSIONS The evidence for the use of incense burners in the late Predynastic is circumstantial at best. Soot on the interiors of plain and lidded bowls dearly indicates that something was burnt in both types of object. Conclusive evidence to distinguish between the use of plain bowls as incense burners rather than lamps or braziers is lacking. The pres- ence of soot spots on the rims of the flaring rim bowls (A46, A140, and A231 (?)) may indicate that they were used for lamps rather than for the burning of incense. A heavy black coating of soot on the bottom of a bowl (A98) is perhaps, but not necessarily, better evidence for its use as an incense burner. However, a brazier or well-used lamp might have similar carbon deposits. For the plain bowls, the best that can be said is that while they may have functioned as incense burners in the late Predynastic, the physical evidence available points more strongly to their use as lamps. Based upon the heavy carbon deposits found on the interior and exterior of the lid and the inside of the bowl from Ballas grave 200, it seems very likely that this piece was used as an incense burner. The use of this piece as a lamp is highly un- likely, since the light cast by a flame would be restricted by the lid, even though it has several holes. The presence of the lid would also seem to contradict the function of this piece as a brazier. Based on similarity of form to the piece from B200, it seems likely that the unstained lid from Ballas grave 66 also was intended to be used as part of an incense burner. The pedestalled dishes and bowls that a few authorities have described as incense burners do not appear to have functioned in that capacity. The lack of post-manufacture carbon deposits strongly supports this condusion. In form and size they closely resemble the short pedestalled stone tables of the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom, some of which also have dished upper surfaces (Emery 1938, 56, pl. 36.39). The placement of these objects within the burial chamber is consistent with that of the stone tables as well. The decorated lip cups in the form of ka-arms and bovine heads 34 Egyptian Pottery are also appropriate to an offering function. It seems likely that these pieces are the earliest examples of one of the most important elements of Egyptian funerary furni- ture: the individual offering table. Of the three forms of objects under discussion, plain bowls, lidded bowls, and pedestalled dishes, the available evidence strongly supports only the identifica- tion of the lidded bowl as an incense burner. Regarding the use of plain bowls as incense burners the evidence is inconclusive, but may favor their interpretation as lamps. The pedestalled dishes and bowls dearly did not function as incense burners, but rather were probably used as offering tables. NOTES 1 "Northern" is used here to distinguish this Ballas from the more southerly cemetery of the same name. The "southern cemetery of Ballas," which was excavated by J. E. Quibell for the Egyptian Exploration Fund in the early 1890s, is approximately one kilometer south of the cemetery excavated by the Hearst Expedition (Quibell 1895; Petrie and Quibell 1896; Reisner 1902,24). The decision to distinguish the two sites in this manner was reached in consultation with Ms. Barbara Adams, Curator of the Petrie Museum in London, which currently houses many of the materials recovered from the southern cemetery at Ballas. Both sites are named after the nearby modern Egyptian village of el-Ballas. Neither of these two cemeteries should be confused with the New Kingdom habitation site and cemeteries of Deir el-Ballas, also excavated by the Hearst Expedition (Lacovara 1990, 1), which are north of the two Predynas- tic cemeteries of Ballas. 2 Formerly the Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology. 3 This Shurafa should not be confused with another site of the same name excavated by Petrie in the vicinity of Cairo (Petrie and MacKay 1915). 4 Recent work by W. Kaiser and Dreyer (1964, 94; 1982, 266-67; 1990, 289) has added further subdivisions to the Nagada III and extended it to the end of the First Dynasty. 5 In museum contexts, ninety-year-old India ink stains can also resemble carbon spots. 6 Petrie corpus type (1921, XXXVIII). 7 But with a wider base than the specimen reported by Petrie (1921, XXXVIII). 8 Cat. no. 6-17508 has mostly fine straw (length 2 mm or less); 6-18280 has mostly 5 mm sized particles; while 6-17753 and 6-17943 have large pieces of straw (5 mm or more). All have occasional larger straw and other organic inclusions of 1 cm or more. 9 N 65,67, and 70; L 75A and 75D; D 75a, respectively (Petrie 1901, XXVII, LI, XXXVI). 10 Size between 2 mm and 5 mm with a few larger (ca. 1 cm) pieces. Three triangular, two round, two triangular and round, one round and double round. 12 Cat. nos. 6-17510 and 6-18172. The surface of one fragmentary specimen (6-17850) is so badly eroded that, although ridges from burnishing can be detected, the direction of the strokes cannot be determined with certainty. Incense Burners of the Late Predynastic 35 13 Four and three incisions, respectively. 14 The reading shn has also been proposed for this sign during the Early Dynastic period (Kaplony 1958, 54ff). 15 A graphic pun or double meaning in the substitution of k3, "bull," for k3, "spirit," is also possible. 16 Cat. no. 6-5615 is particularly useful in this respect due to the direction in which the dish is broken (across the center). 17 Barring post-depositional disturbances of various types (Schiffer 1976). 18 Cat. nos. 6-17363, 6-17372, 6-17508, 6-17527, 6-17713, 6-17753, 6-17847, 6-17943, 6-18158, 6-18178, 6-18280, and 6-18438. 19 The precise location is uncertain since no photograph exists, only a tomb sketch. 20 It is possible that this piece was not originally from this grave, since objects in the shaft filling sometimes get there by being thrown out of nearby tombs during plundering. 21 The body had been plundered and was not in situ. 22 Smooth hard pink ware; form is closest to Protodynastic Corpus type 20b (Petrie 1953, IV). 23 Corpus type L58D (Petrie 1921, L). 24 Both pieces Protodynastic Corpus type 7b (Petrie 1953), coarse fabric. 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