Clayton rings
Clayton rings are wide, conical, open ceramic rings found in the eastern Sahara . They resemble clay pots without a bottom and have always been found together with perforated discs made of ceramic material. Research has shown that they date from the Predynastic Period of Ancient Egypt . All sites are in the desert away from the Nile valley . Their function for the people of the early epoch is unclear.
The rings were first discovered in 1932 by the English desert explorer Patrick Clayton (1896–1962) east of Gebel Kamil in Egypt , near the border with Sudan . The rings, named after Clayton in the scientific literature, received little attention from researchers for many decades.
Further rings were discovered by the German African explorer Rudolph Kuper (born 1937) in the Egyptian Eastern Sahara. The same objects were found near the Libyan border and at Dachla . The clay objects were often in niches in the rock. Using the C14 method could age about objects found with him v to the period around the 3000th To be dated. Clayton rings have been found in many places in the eastern Sahara, but none of the numerous excavations along the Nile. The main goal of a German research project started in 1995 was the cultural and ecological-climatic adaptation of the desert inhabitants during the Holocene wet phase (Eastern Sahara monsoon), which lasted from 8000 to 3300 BC. Lasted.
More than 40 places have now been discovered that contain 150 pieces of the enigmatic pottery. Most were discovered between 1995 and 2000. Three examples were found in northern Sudan in the early 1980s . Usually there is a lack of meaningful structures or recognizable arrangements in the pottery. In many cases the rings and disks have been found as single finds. A small number of sites produced assemblages that were likely to be in their original state. In 2000, the preliminary indications for this type of ceramic were summarized.
New research has revealed some details about the Clayton rings. Although there was no direct evidence of its use, some assumptions can be made based on the climatic and ecological bases. The analysis of the signs of wear did not produce any significant results. Clayton rings have only been found in the desert. The dating around 3200/3100 BC After the end of the wet period, around 3300 BC. Ends. Apart from Clayton rings, the desert areas are almost free of archaeological material from the period after 3300 BC. Chr.
Due to the absence of other cultural material at the sites, these can be recognized as short-term storage locations. Presumably, the rings are part of the survival strategies or techniques for the desert travelers of this time.
Individual evidence
- ^ H. Riemer & R. Kuper: Clayton rings: enigmatic ancient pottery in the Eastern Sahara. Sahara 12, pp. 91-100, 2000
- ↑ Tim Schröder: The desert is green . In: MaxPlanckResearch . No. 4/2011 . Max Planck Society, 2011, ISSN 1616-4172 , p. 86 ( digital version [PDF; 9.1 MB ]).
literature
- H. Riemer: Clayton rings: enigmatic ceramics from the Sahara . In: Heinrich-Barth-Kurier, special edition on May 28, 2002, publications from the Africa Research Center of the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory at the University of Cologne, Heinrich Barth Institute eV, 2002