P.O.T.S. – Preserving Our Terracotta Stories

Coordinators: Divina Centore, Federica Facchetti, Federica Ugliano

Team: Francesca Bignoli (Università degli Studi di Milano)

The Museo Egizio houses approximately 12,000 complete vessels and fragments from various sites investigated by the Italian Archaeological Mission (M.A.I.) or purchased on the antiquities market. The project aims to correct, standardize, and enhance the data related to these vessels in order to make this information widely accessible. At the same time, targeted research projects will be carried out .

The vessels preserved in the Museo Egizio are almost entirely unpublished, despite representing an important source of information both for the study of their archaeological contexts and for ceramic studies more broadly. The cataloguing of this material is not uniform and has often been carried out by non-specialists; it therefore contains errors and indexing criteria that hinder effective research.

In line with the Museum’s aim to make the collection accessible and thus foster research projects and collaborations with other institutions, it is essential to develop a unified system of classification and description consistent with modern research methods. Alongside this work—focused on defining a methodology and reorganizing the data within the museum’s database (SiME)—each project member will carry out an individual research project on a specific corpus within the collection.

The study of this material is structured in several phases, starting with the inventory check and the cataloguing of ceramic fragments, followed by the definition of a method for the classification and description of vessels and a testing phase. Subsequently, the correction and integration of the data in SiME will be carried out, and then the structuring of both general and individual research activities.

The general research includes the study of pigments, the study of contents, and documentation through drawing and 3D modelling. The individual research is structured as follows: Divina Centore will work on the ceramic assemblage from Gebelein; Federica Facchetti on the ceramics from Deir el-Medina; Federica Ugliano on the Predynastic ceramics from Heliopolis, both complete vessels and fragments (for details, see the PreMuC record); Francesca Bignoli on the Greco-Roman ceramics from Heliopolis.

The classification, typological, and descriptive system is developed through comparison with current methodological standards and will be tested on different ceramic corpora in order to refine it and ensure its applicability to vessels regardless of their context or chronology. At the same time, work will be carried out on the SiME database to align it with the new system, enabling the proper recording and indexing of all data.

The testing phase—conducted on four distinct corpora differing in provenance and chronology—will allow for the correction and reorganization of an initial set of data, which will then be made publicly accessible via the online database. This work will also lay the groundwork for further research in four areas: Predynastic and Greco-Roman pottery from Heliopolis, Middle Kingdom pottery from Gebelein, and New Kingdom pottery from Deir el-Medina.

Archaeometric analyses will be required to support these studies, particularly for the investigation of pigments and vessel contents. Another key aspect of the project is the development of documentation methods through 3D scanning and technical drawing.

The outputs of the P.O.T.S. project are structured across several complementary levels. In terms of data management, the project involves the correction, integration, and updating of ceramic-related information in the SiME database and the online collection, alongside the documentation and study of material groups associated with the individual research projects.

These activities are complemented by archaeometric analyses aimed at identifying fabric composition, pigments used for decoration, and vessel contents. The results are disseminated to the scholarly community through the publication of articles in Rivista del Museo Egizio and other specialized journals.

Links

Presentation “I vasi in terracotta del Museo Egizio: contesti di provenienza, tipologie e studi in corso”, held on 10 March 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jeWXX4jiTE

Presentation “Vasi femminiformi: tipologia e significato”, held on 16 February 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfistX0Y41I

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P.O.T.S. – Preserving Our Terracotta Stories

P.O.T.S. – Preserving Our Terracotta Stories

Visit

Events

Collection and research

Touring exhibitions

Who we are

Fondazione Trasparente

HR and tenders

Press