Monday afternoon our entire group jammed into four vehicles and drove some ten miles to visit a village famous for its pottery industry. I shot nearly 100 photos that day, but will show only a few here because of space and bandwidth limitations. In general, I am taking more photos now but cannot show them all, so y'all can request a more personal slide show if you want to see more of them in person at some point.

All of the inspectors had an assignment to find out all they could about the potters, their wares, and everything related. Based on our interviews and observations, I learned the following facts about this place:

• All the pots you see are sold to middlemen for between one and three Egyptian pounds (20-60 cents).
  
• The place has about 10 kilns, which are fired once a week, and hold some 100 pots each.
  
• Therefore... 10 kilns x 100 pots per week (assuming no breakage which would never be the case) and before expenses like sawdust = LE 1000-3000 = $225-650 for what? 10 families, assuming one potter per family and per kiln? Not a good living.
  
• After firing, the pots have to cool down for a day or so in the kiln.
  
• Sawdust is used for fuel, along with various other things laying around.
  
• The clay comes from the side of the hill on which the potters work.
  
• The potters can turn out one of the big round jugs in about 10 minutes.
  
• They use a foot-powered wheel to add necks to some of the jugs.
  
• A great deal of straw is used as temper, and this makes the jugs quite lightweight.
  

The potters' village of el-Nazla, on the side of a trash-covered hill





Some of kilns and stacks of pots that have been fired





Close-up of an unfired pot, newly made





One of the potters' workshops with mud pit in front and surrounded by stacks of pots drying





Close-up of potters' hut showing use of old pots in walls





One of the potters using a leg-powered wheel to add a neck to a pot





Kids watching a potter work; the two tools he uses to pound out pot body are centered





Camels bringing roofing material for one of the potters' huts



Of course this pottery is nothing like one might visit in the States, even if it's a production facility rather than something more like an artist's craft shop.