Coiled Basketry Through Time in Ancient Egypt – Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom
Basketry changed little from the Predynastic forms used, even through to the early dynastic periods. A basket from the National Museum of Ireland pertains to Tarkhan, south of modern Cairo, in the First Dynasty. Acquired in 1912, only minimal information about this artifact is available. It measures 18 centimeters in diameter and is relatively flat. The wrapping is clearly discernable. The fine detail seen in the Predynastic baskets is lacking in this particular basket. The core materials are clearly visible as the wrapping is intermittent, though evenly spaced. It appears as though the core material and the wrapping material are the same, though that observation cannot be confirmed at this time. The basket is fragmentary, though only just. The rim appears to be complete, with the final looped/knotted stitch (appearing quite like the modern blanket stitch) clearly visible at the top of the rim. The core material appears to have been abruptly cut to finish the basket, instead of allowing the material to taper to an end for a smoother finish (Artifact 1912:283).
Another basket from the same museum and the same excavation and date, is also displayed. This basket is hypothesized to be a food container. It possesses a width of 15 centimeters and a length of 18.5 centimeters. Again, only the minimum amount of information is given, with no information concerning the materials used, though both the core and wrapping appears to have been made of some sort of reed. Like the previous example, this basket is roughly made with evenly spaced, though intermittent, wrapping stitches. The stiffer materials used are evident in the numerous holes and spaces between coils. This basket is ultimately more rough than the previous example, though both are of the same style of coiled basketry (Artifact 1912:282).
© 2011, Page Strong. All rights reserved.
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