of forms of baskets, and there is logic to this practice. Even in
modern times people make baskets that are watertight and
can be used to carry liquids; it is not surprising, then, that
ancient Africans created pottery designed like baskets. In Af-
rica basketry has had other signifi cant uses besides carrying
or holding objects. Th e walls of houses were sometimes made
entirely of woven reeds. In modern Chad there are farming
communities in which not only houses but also the walls sur-
rounding family compounds are woven, preserving a skill
that developed in ancient times. Th us, some of the craft s of
historical times off er clues to the craft of ancient times, help-
ing to fi ll in the gaps among the metal and ceramic remains
of ancient African cultures.
EGYPT
BY ERIN FAIRBURN
Th e type of craft s found and the way craft s were made help re-
searchers fl esh out the practices of daily life. Objects made by
Egyptian craft smen were oft en prestige items, and the mate-
rials used and quality of workmanship can indicate the social
ranking of their owners. Egyptian craft smen made items in
stone, metal, wood, glass, faience, and basketry, among other
materials. Stone was used for a variety of objects, including
jewelry, amulets, and tools, and the use of stone for vessels
was common from the earliest times. Diff erent types of stone,
most of which were found near the centers of production,
were used in t he creation of vessels. Th e exteriors were shaped
with stone tools and smoothed and fi nished with stone and
quartz sand, and the interiors were probably drilled.
Stone vessels were produced in a number of forms. Stone
bowls and jars were common throughout ancient times and
were the most common types seen until the New Kingdom
(1550– 1070 b.c.e.). Alabaster, diorite, gneiss, limestone brec-
cia, and porphyry were popular materials for vessels in the
Predynastic Period (5000–3100 b.c.e.) and Early Dynastic
Period (2920–2770 b.c.e.). Modeled vessels of blue anhydrite,
oft en decorated with monkeys or ducks, came into fashion
during the Middle Kingdom (2040–1640 b.c.e.) and Second
Intermediate Period (ca. 1640–1532 b.c.e.). Diverse forms
were created in the New Kingdom. Kohl tubes and applica-
tors, oft en made of alabaster, were ver y popular ty pes of stone
objects from this period on. (Kohl was a cosmetic preparation
oft en used to darken the eyelids and rims.)
Metals were worked into tools, fi gurines, jewelry, and
sculpture in Egypt, but they were also used to create vessels,
which were almost invariably hammered, rather than cast.
Metal was likewise used for model tools, cylinder seals (used
to stamp impressions into clay), mirrors, and ushabtis, or small
fi gurines that were buried with the dead to accompany them
into the underworld and work for them in the aft erlife. Most
Egyptian metal products were made of a copper alloy, silver,
or gold. Not many examples of metal craft survive, perhaps
because they were reused or melted down in later periods.
However, a silver box lid is known from a Predynastic con-
text, and a copper ewer and basin date to the Second Dynasty
(2770–2649 b.c.e.). Silver vessels were found in the el-Tod trea-
sure dating to the Middle Kingdom, and silver was used for a
number of decorative vessels in the New Kingdom.
Egyptian craft smen created objects from such native
woods as acacia, tamarisk, and sycamore beginning in the
Predynastic Period. Th ey also used imported woods such as
cedar, ash, elm, and oak from North Africa and the eastern
Mediterranean region as early as the First Dynasty (2920–
2770 b.c.e.). Native woods could be utilized in woodworking,
but they are of generally poor quality; imported wood was
preferred if longer pieces were required. Wood was joined
using variations on butt, miter, or mortise and tenon joints.
Furniture and wooden objects could be fi nished in a num-
ber of ways. Wood was oft en plastered to even out any im-
perfections and create a surface on which to apply gilding or
paint. Pieces were sometimes inlaid with decorative woods
like ebony as well as with the nonwooden materials of ivory,
faience, glass, or precious stones. Veneers of decorative wood
were used on some furniture. Varnish was sometimes applied
to pieces in the New Kingdom, and beeswax was used to seal
painted pieces.
In the Predynastic Period carved wood relief panels have
been found in tombs of private individuals, 11 of them in the
tomb of Hesire, a high offi cial during the reign of the pha-
raoh Djoser. From the Old Kingdom (2575–2134 b.c.e.) there
is furniture of the royal mother Hetepheres, which included
a canopy frame, two armchairs, a bed frame, headrest, chest,
and carrying chair. A diverse variety of wooden chests appear
at this point. Stools and boxes are seen with great frequency
in Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom contexts. Little fur-
niture is preserved from the Late Period (712–332 b.c.e.),
though cabinetry became a highly developed form by the
Graeco-Roman Period (332 b.c.e.–395 c.e.). Royal furniture,
such as that of Hetepheres and Tutankhamen, was similar in
form to that of private domestic furniture but of better qual-
ity and workmanship.
Faience is a unique material that had been developed by
the Predynastic Period. It is a composite of crushed quartz
or sand mixed with lime and plant ash or natron (a sodium
compound), which is glazed and fi red. Glazing was usually
accomplished by including an alkali in the core material,
which would crystallize on the surface as it dried and then
melt, becoming glassy, upon fi ring. Because of copper inclu-
sions the fi nished product is oft en a bright blue-green, though
Egyptians developed techniques that created a wide spectrum
of glaze colors, from opaque white to violet.
Faience was used in the Old Kingdom in the production
of molded fi gurines of both humans and animals. Tens of
thousands of blue-green glazed tiles were found in the cham-
bers beneath the step pyramid of Djoser (r. 2575–2551) at
Saqqara. Figures of hippopotami and hedgehogs were popu-
lar during the Middle Kingdom, as were vessels decorated on
both the inside and the outside. Th e range of colors increased
during the New Kingdom, as seen on the polychrome tiles of286 crafts: Egypt