An Egyptian male artisan sits on the floor of a rustic pottery workshop, carefully hand-finishing a large unfired clay jar (Zir) on a low spinning wheel. His clothes and hands are covered in dried clay dust, and several finished and unfinished clay vessels are visible around him. Traditional hand pottery (Fakhkhar) is one of Egypt's oldest crafts, with centers historically concentrated in Upper Egypt, Cairo's Fustat district, and the village of Fayoum, where clay vessels have been produced continuously since Pharaonic times.