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Comment by Dept of PMM Castle Life on January 22, 2011 at 12:03am

In the Mediterranean, during the Greek Dark Ages (1100–800 BCE), artists used geometric designs such as squares, circles and lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. The period between 1500-300 BCE in ancient Korea is known as the Mumun Pottery Period.

The quality of pottery has varied historically, in part dependent upon the repute in which the potter's craft was held by the community. For example, in the Chalcolithic period in Mesopotamia, Halafian pottery achieved a level of technical competence and sophistication, not seen until the later developments of Greek pottery with Corinthian and Attic ware. The distinctive Red Samian ware of the Early Roman Empire was copied by regional potters throughout the Empire. The Dark Age period saw a collapse in the quality of European pottery which did not recover in status and quality until the European Renaissance.

Comment by Dept of PMM Castle Life on January 22, 2011 at 12:02am

The earliest-known ceramic objects are Gravettian figurines such as those discovered at Dolni Vestonice in the modern-day Czech Republic. The Venus of Dolní Věstonice (Věstonická Venuše in Czech) is a Venus figurine, a statuette of a nude female figure dated to 29,000–25,000 BCE (Gravettian industry). The earliest pottery vessel found to date was excavated from the Yuchanyan Cave in southern China and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009 reports that the ware dates back to 18,000 years ago. Pottery vessels made by the Incipient Jōmon people of Japan from around 10,500 BCE have also been found. The term "Jōmon" means "cord-marked" in Japanese. This refers to the markings made on clay vessels and figures using sticks with cords wrapped around them. Pottery which dates back to 10,000 BCE have also been excavated in China. It appears that pottery was independently developed in North Africa during the tenth millennium b.p. and in South America during the seventh millennium b.p. In several cultures, the earliest vessels were made either by hand-shaping or by rolling the clay into a thin round cord which was then coiled round on itself to form the vessel.

The earliest history of pottery production in the Near East can be divided into four periods, namely: the Hassuna period (5000 - 4500 BCE), the Halaf period (4500 - 4000 BCE), the Ubaid period (4000 - 3000 BCE), and the Uruk period (3500 - 2000 BCE). The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia sometime between 6000 and 4000 BCE (Ubaid period) revolutionized pottery production. Specialized potters were then able to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities. Pottery was in use in ancient India during the Mehrgarh Period II (5500 - 4800 BCE) and Merhgarh Period III (4800 - 3500 BCE), known as the ceramic Neolithic and chalcolithic. Pottery, including items known as the ed-Dur vessels, originated in regions of the Indus valley and has been found in a number of sites in the Indus valley civilization.

Comment by Dept of PMM Castle Life on January 22, 2011 at 12:01am

Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. The place where such wares are made is also called a "pottery" (plural "potteries")."Pottery" can also refer to the material of which the potteryware is made. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Pottery is one of the oldest human technologies and art forms, and remains a major industry today. The definition used by archaeologists tends to exclude ceramic objects such as figurines which are made by similar processes, and perhaps the same people, but are not vessels, or made on a potter's wheel.

 

It is believed that the earliest pottery wares were hand-built and fired in bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved in the fire could be high, perhaps in the region of 900 °C, and were reached very quickly. Clays tempered with sand, grit, crushed shell or crushed pottery were often used to make bonfire-fired ceramics because they provided an open-body texture that allows water and other volatile components of the clay to escape freely. The coarser particles in the clay also acted to restrain shrinkage within the bodies of the wares during cooling which was carried out slowly to reduce the risk of thermal stress and cracking. In the main, early bonfire-fired wares were made with rounded bottoms to avoid sharp angles that might be susceptible to cracking. The earliest intentionally-constructed kilns were pit-kilns or trench-kilns--holes dug in the ground and covered with fuel. Holes in the ground provided insulation and resulted in better control over firing.