i6 
HERAMIC STUDIO 
ALGERIAN POTTERY 
Randolph I. Geare 
THE recent spectacle afforded Ijy the rendering of homage 
to the President of France on the ])art of tens of thousands 
of the semi-wild tri1)esmen of Algeria has attracted much 
attention and may l^e of consideral^le political importance. 
Such events at any rate serve to increase public interest in that 
region of Northern Africa. Thus the origin as well as the arts 
and industries of these Libyan tribes are engaging the attention 
of ethnologists, and in this connection allusion may be made to 
an expedition recently made through Algeria by two English- 
men — Messrs. David Randall-Maciver and Anthony Wilkin: — 
their special object being to solve the question of the connection 
of the Chawia and Kabyle tribes with Egypt in prehistoric 
times. The former of these inhabits the Aures mountain 
region, the latter representing in general all the Berber tribes 
in the coast mountains of Algeria. 
Fronr the published results of their investigations it 
seems that no one thing assisted them- in their researches more 
than the native pottery, of which they made a very unique 
collection . In their excellent work en- 
titled "Libyan Notes, " from which the 
accompanying illustrations are tal^en, 
they admit this when they say: /'No 
one who has known how a Greek site 
can be dated by a couple of square 
inches of painted vase, or who has been 
enabled by finding a fragment of red 
Sainian ware to assign a puzzling mass 
of stones to its true Roman period, will 
underestimate the value of pottery." 
Pottery is made in such large quantities 
that at least some of the pieces are sure 
to be preserved from destruction, and 
regions where little else in the way of 
relics can be found, always yield frag- 
ments of the native ware. 
The present stage of civilization 
w^hich a nation has reached may be 
measured to a certain extent by its 
skill in the ceramic art, and in the case 
of primitive peoples this is still more 
apt to be the case. Of course as arts 
increase and develop, the manufacture 
of pottery is hable to be thrown cor- 
respondingh;' into the shade, but with 
primitive races or with people who have 
not advanced very rapidly, their pot- 
tery indicates with great precision the 
degree of culture they have attained, 
and from it can be generally ascertained 
to what extent it has been influenced 
bj^ the civilization of neighboring races. 
Before describing the pottery of 
the tril^es under consideration, it maj^ 
be stated that the studies of the explor- 
ers previously named, resulted in find- 
ing that the modern Berbers are the 
descendants of the races known to the 
early Egyptians and also to the Greeks 
and Libyans, and the Chawia and 
Kabyles are regarded as typical rep- 
resentatives of this stock. Moreover, 
the culture of the Libyans and prehis- 
toric Egyptians has many close reseml^lances, although this fact 
gives but little ground, if any, for inferring that the races are 
identical, and in this connection it is significant that the 
]irehistoric Egyptians were ac(|uaintcd with dexx-lopments of 
arts, other tlian tlie ceramic art, of whicli no trace whatever 
is to be found in Liljya. 
Comparing the two, Kabyle ]Jottery is greatly superior 
to that of the Chawia, since it exhiliits forms and designs which 
are distinctive and characteristic. In general, it is covered 
with a red wash obtained from a native ferruginous earth and 
then decorated in patterns w4th a native white earth. And 
here is found a close resemblance to the polished red pottery 
with white cross-lines found in the prehistoric cemeteries in 
Egypt, while the technique of the decoration in each is also 
said to be identical. Thus, zigzag lines are a favorite design in 
both kinds, as also are latticed triangles, simple chevrons and 
cross-barred lines. There is also much similarity in the .shape 
of the old Egj^ptian and Kabyle pots. 
Both among the Kabjdes and the Chawia all pottery is 
made by the women, and is hand-made. The clay used by the 
former is a compound of two coarse earths which are wetted 
PREHISTORIC EGYPTIAN 
