Early Meroitic Pottery and the creation of an early imperial culture?

This paper discusses aspects of the early history of Meroitic pottery manufacture and evidence suggestive of the existence of specialist workshop production from an early date. A number of issues are discussed concerning the relationship of such early pottery to later developments in the production and use of the better-known wheelmade pottery industries. The novelty of early Meroitic pottery is stressed, as well as its likely importance for studies concerned with the creation of the Meroitic kingdom and its imperial culture.