This subject comes up from time to time, including, for example,
on this board.
Possible early lathes in AE are
discussed here. (On vases and drills, see also [
www.hallofmaat.com] and [
www.hallofmaat.com]. And see [
www.maatforum.com], with the reference to a cow-bone drill).
In this archive thread on 4th Dynasty lathes [
www.maatforum.com] appears this post [
www.maatforum.com], which mentions "Les scènes de la vie privée dans les tombeaux égyptiens de l'ancien Empire" (1925, Pierre Montet) which has a section (290-311) [Fr.]) on, amongst other things, the manufacture of vases. Montet explains that tne tool connected with the hollowing of vases is a
hm-ti (294, 295; see also Index, 419). Fig. 40 (296) shows the workman holding the oddly-shaped handle with both hands while he hollows out the stone vase.
This archive post [
www.maatforum.com] mentions Sarah Doherty, who, in "The Introduction of the Potter’s Wheel to Ancient Sudan" (2021) [
iansa.eu] (299), writes:
Quote
The potter’s wheel is now generally considered to have
originated in Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC and
subsequently its use spread to the Levant and Egypt (Baldi
and Roux, 2016; Freestone and Gaimster, 1997, p.15; Kuhrt,
1995, p.22; Pollock, 1999, p.5; Simpson, 1997, pp.50–55).
The potter’s wheel came to Egypt before Sudan, during
Egypt’s 4th dynasty c. 2600 BC, with the invention of the
wheel originating in the Near East c. 4500–3800 BC (Doherty,
2015). Recent research by Baldi and Roux (2016, pp.236–
253) postulated two independent centres of potter’s wheel
invention in northern Mesopotamia and southern Levant,
resulting from a mutual demand for ceremonial vessels.
How the pottery wheel was adopted and developed in Egypt
was the topic of the author’s PhD research, now published as
“The Origins and Use of the Potter’s wheel in ancient Egypt”
(Doherty, 2015)
Doherty's 2015 work turns out to contain the following explanation:
Quote
The Egyptians used relatively few
machines in their industries; the exceptions being ...
the twist-reverse-twist stone drill (Stocks, 2003, p. 17),...
the waterwheel, the lathe (Gale, Gasson, Hepper,
& Killen, 2000, pp. 357, fig 15.21) and survey equipment
such as the plum bob and set square ...
Prior to the use of the potter’s wheel in the Pre and Early
Dynastic Periods (c.4000-3500 B.C.), pottery was being
produced on a large scale by specialists for funerary
contexts. Most tombs in early cemeteries contained at least
one pottery vessel, but some graves contained hundreds ...
(The Origins and Use of the Potter's Wheel in Ancient Egypt 2015
(Archaeopress Egyptology) by Sarah Doherty (2015) (38)
This is the Gale/Gasson lathe reference:
Quote
The art of rotating timber on a fixed centre and scraping
the wood away was known to Egyptians, but - despite the
fact that the process of turning other materials was practised
from the earliest times - the precise date of its introduction
is not clear. The first illustration of carpenters
working on a lathe (Fig. 15.21) is seen in the Ptolemaic tomb
of Petosiris at Tw1a el-Gebel (Lefebvre 1923: pl. X). The
wooden bed of this lathe appears to be mounted vertically
and is firmly set into the ground. Two adjustable stocks, in
whjch were fixed the dead centres, held the piece of wood to
be tttrned. It is possible that both stocks were fastened to
the bed by wedges. This arrangement would allow the wood
to be fastened between tl1e centres and that various lengths
of timber could be turned on this simple machine.
One man turned the tim her with a length of rope which
is twisted about the turned element, while the other man
scrapes the wood away with a chisel, using the bed of the
lathe as a tool rest. The scraping would have been done on
botl1 the forward and reverse movements of the work resulting
in the chisel producing chatter and score marks on the
timber. Thjs type of light lathe would not have been able to
produce the heavier, more intricate turned legs of the Roman
period, for which horizontally mounted pole lathes
would have had to be developed. (Gale, Gasson, Hepper,
& Killen, 2000, pp. 357, fig 15.21 in Nicholson & Shaw (2000),
"Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology": 357.)
This is an illustration (see foot of Pl. X) of a lathe from the tomb of
Petosiris (4th cent. BC).
Hermione
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