A study of the main religious motifs in the decoration of meroitic painted and stamped pottery

Abstract

This research was undertaken by the present writer at the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Southampton University, the goal of which was to study the main religious motifs in the decoration of Meroitic painted and stamped pottery. Works done in this area were relatively rare as well as unsatisfactory. This thesis is no more than an attempt to make a contribution to the study of these religious motifs.

The data of the study were provided by the examination of the published and unpublished material from several sites of Meroitic Kush. The source material ranges in time from around the first century A.D. to the fourth century of the present era.

The main religious motifs in the decoration of the pottery under study were identified by viewing them in their original Egyptian format first and in their Napatan and Meroitic recast next, with their individual significance indicated. The analysis of the data led the writer to some possible interpretations and insights into the meanings of these motifs as well as their incidences and distribution within Meroitic Kush.

The results of the study showed that there are manifest religious concepts underlying the decoration of Meroitic painted and stamped pottery. The main motifs did not function only as decorative elements but rather with symbolic religious meanings. Here, one hopes, may be a contribution to the efforts aiming at exploring fields of cognitive archaeology in Meroitic studies.

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