Variability and continuity of ceramic manufacturing of prehistoric pottery from Upper Nubia, Sudan: An ethnographic comparison

In Nubia (currently northern Sudan), the art of making pottery has a very ancient and durable tradition, dating 20 back to the earlyHolocene and preceding the introduction of a food-producing economy. Ethnographic case stud- 21 ies have demonstrated that this tradition has been preserved in many areas of the country. This paper presents a 22 comparative study of ancient and modern traditional ceramics fromfour prehistoric sites at Sai Island, in the river 23 Nile, and a present-dayworkshop located in the nearby village of Abri. The aim of the study was to investigate any 24 diachronic changes in the selection of clayey raw material and the technological processes of themanufacturing 25 sequence. The study combined macroscopic and analytical approaches and examined a large set of ceramic and 26 local clay samples by means of petrographic (OM), mineralogical (X-ray powder diffraction; XRPD) and chemical 27 (X-ray fluorescence; XRF) analyses. The resulting data underline a remarkable continuity in raw material sourc- 28 ing and composition, as well as in many technological processes, from the ceramic assemblages dating from 29 Abkan cultural horizon (c. 5500 BCE) until to the present-day production in Abri. This continuity emerged after 30 a preceding discontinuity, indicated by a different selection of clay raw material and tempers in the oldest pro- 31 duction dating to the Khartoum Variant horizon (c. 7600–4800 BCE).