A desert enigma: Clayton rings

The function of most objects can often be determined from their shape or the context in which they were found. Yet, some remain tantalisingly obscure, none more so than the enigmatic objects called Clayton rings, which are known from some of the most inhospitable parts of Egypt’s deserts.

Named after the geographer and desert explorer P.A. Clayton (1896–1962), Clayton rings are conical cylinders of pottery, open at both ends. They are always found with one or more perforated pottery disks that are always just slightly larger than the ring’s smaller opening, but do not fit as lids. Some were custom made by potters as a set, others were reworked from old pottery jars and sherds, like the ones on display.

These objects were not used by the Egyptians living along the Nile, but instead formed an important part of the kit of the nomadic herders inhabiting the Dakhla Oasis during Egypt’s first dynasties (c. 3100–2600BC), called the Sheikh Muftah culture. Clayton rings and disks have been found in the oasis, around seasonal hunting and herding camps of this culture, but remarkably also in caches up to 300km away from permanent water sources and beyond the safe roaming range of any herdsman or hunter. Often carefully placed in rock shelters or at the base of hillocks, apparently awaiting their owner’s return, many, like the example on display, are incised with signs suggesting that ownership was important. The majority of caches contained between one and ten ring and disk ensembles, though the largest cache contained 36 rings and disks carefully stacked and placed on their sides.

What made these objects so important that people went to the trouble to take Clayton rings far into the desert? This question is hard to answer since we still do not know how the rings were used. Many suggestions for their function have been put forward: cheese production, salt collection, bird traps, bee hives, water collectors, utensils for making fire, lamps, ovens for roasting the seeds of bitter gourds, or even maggot farms, but so far no explanation is completely convincing.

All we can say at present is that Clayton rings and disks appear to be an innovation that made life in the arid desert possible. They remain an enigma, but through them we can catch a glimpse of the other peoples and cultures living in Egypt with whom the Egyptians along the Nile interacted during the formative period of the early dynasties.