ABSTRACT
The majority of the heads are manufactured from Nile silt clay, although some figures have been made from marl clay which represent Egyptian-style female figures. The processes of manufacture vary, with some hand-modelled heads with either moulded, incised features or modelled features from added clay. The terracottas were found in an area described by Petrie as the "foreign quarter" which lies close to the Ptah temple. Recent publications, although aware of the flaws in Petrie's methods of categorization, often accept his conclusions regarding this group of material quoting Strabo. Groups within the terracotta representations have been studied since Petrie's publications, and their purpose and identification questioned. If hypothetically some of the group were intended to represent foreigners, it is possible that they were not necessarily those living in Memphis but rather those associated with Egypt at a specific time. If this hypothesis is correct, the date range of the material would be greatly affected.
