Making Stone Vases: Contemporary Manufacture of Material-Culture Items in Upper Egypt

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of a contemporary alabaster-working technology in a small village in Upper Egypt. It discusses a variety of information pertaining to ancient alabaster vessel manufacture in Egypt. The contemporary industry operates under different social and economic pressures than those of dynastic times. Ancient workshops have been more highly specialized, both in terms of organization and in production goals. The contemporary workshops produce, often at a rather leisurely pace, a limited number of vessels for sale to tourists. There are some remarkable similarities between the ancient and contemporary alabaster technologies, and the basic techniques of manufacture have changed very little. Until sophisticated excavations of ancient alabaster workshops are done in Egypt, little is done to compare the structure and organization of workshops with those of the past.