Predynastic pottery at Cincinnati Art Museum

examiner.com

Nearly 6,000 years ago; 4,000 years before the birth of Christ; 1,000 years before the first Egyptian ruler came to power over all of Egypt, there were societies living near the Nile. These early cultures are now referred to as being pre-dynastic and the phases or time-periods as Naqada I, II and III, (also spelled Nagada), named for the area of Egypt where many artifacts were found. Nomadic hunters were beginning to settle and cultivate the land and to create functional items suited to a new lifestyle. Added to the use of stone was work in metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, weaving, and the tanning of animal hides.

Naqada I was a time when crocodiles and rhinos, giraffes and elephants roamed the land. In this setting an early Egyptian sat down before a fire to create a piece of art we marvel at today. For him, he is merely creating a beaker, possibly for trade, possibly on commission, we cannot know; but for us, finding it so many thousands of years later, it is a trace of history, a glimpse into a past we can only envision through the various clues unintentionally left for us.

On permanent display in the Cincinnati Art Museum is the earthenware beaker fashioned by hand from rich Nile silt by that pre-dynastic Egyptian. The piece was shaped by smoothing together coils of this clay then dried in the sun, the very same activity many of us experienced in elementary school art class. It was given a wash of red ochre, a pigment made from iron rich red clay and one of the first pigments used by humans. It was fired over open flames as the kiln had not yet been invented. The darkened areas were created using a technique that allowed soot to accumulate on the pot's upper surface during the firing.