In spite of its massiveness, I have insisted that Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia (WYA 1986a) is not and cannot be the “last word” on Nubian pottery; it is merely the latest and most detailed in a continuing series of progress reports. The ongoing excavations at Qasr Ibrim are sure to contribute new information, and possibly also new wares, and hopefully future excavations in the Sudan will do the same. It is still also possible that some wares will be eliminated, since the significance of some of my finer distinctions remains suspect. I will here briefly recapitulate the scheme as it exists at the moment, without in any way suggesting that it has attained its final form.

The Nubian Typology in 1989

The Nubian Pottery Classification for the period A.D. 200–1600 today contains 101 wares, grouped into the same seven families and sixteen ware groups that were mentioned in the last chapter. The scheme bears a close but not total resemblance to the familiar type-variety system employed in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica (Wheat, Gifford, and Wasley 1958; Smith, Willey, and Gifford 1960; Sabloff and Smith 1969). The complete listing of wares, ware groups, and families is given in Table 5. Each ware has been formally described in terms of seventy variable features, as listed in Table 6 (WYA 1986a: 411–597).