User:Grapeguy/sandbox/History of Pottery

Pottery is defined, for purposes of this article, as fired ceramic vessels -- hollow containers, bowls, cups, etc., including dishes -- that are formed from clay.

A great part of the history of pottery is prehistoric, part of past pre-literate cultures. Therefore, much of this history can only be found among the artifacts of archaelogy. Because pottery is so durable, pottery and sherds from pottery survive from millenia at archaeological sites. However, the creation of pottery was accelerating as cultures developed writing, and pottery plays a large role in recorded written history.

Not all societies developed pottery at the same time or pace. At least four conditions are required in order to create pottery: the availability of clay, the ability to control fire, a sedentary society, and a need for the product.

The development of pottery is wide ranging in time, space, technology and utility. Evidence of pottery making goes back to between 5,000 and 10,000 BCE in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. Pottery has been used for the storage, the preservation, the transportation, the preparation, and the presentation of food, water, wine, and oil as well as grave goods and funerary urns. Methods for preparing clay, shaping, firing, and decorating have become more sophisticated over time. Pottery was a popular item of trade between diverse groups and methods were learned between trading partners and sometimes they remained secrets.

Conditions for Making Pottery

Before pottery can be made, several conditions must be met.

First, there must be usable clay available. Archaeological sites where the earliest pottery was found were near deposits of readily available clay that could be properly shaped and fired. China has large deposits of a variety of clays, which gave them an advantage in early development of fine Pottery. Japan, Great Britain, and the United States also have large deposits of a variety of clays. This gave them an advantage in developing fine pottery, especially after the start of the Industrial Age.

Second, it must be possible to heat the pottery to temperatures that will achieve the transformation from raw clay to hardened pottery. Humans did not develop methods to control fire until late in the development of cultures. Methods to reliably create fires hot enough to fire pottery came even later.

Third, the potter must have time and available to prepare, shape and fire the clay into pottery. Even after control of fire was achieved, humans did not seem to develop pottery until a sedimentary life was achieved. It has been hypothesized that pottery was developed only after humans established agriculture, which led to permanent settlements.

Fourth, there must be a sufficient need for pottery in order to justify the resources required for its production.

Chronology of Key Events in the Development of Pottery

Year	Far East	Near East	Europe	Americas
BCE
10,000	Evidence of Earliest Pottery in China, Japan
4000		Potter's Wheel created in Mesopotamia
1500				Start of "Formative" era
CE
615	Porcelain pottery developed in China
632		Start of Islamic Pottery
1709			First Porcelain pottery in Europe in Dreseden

Earliest known ceramics are the Gravettian figurines that date to 29,000 to 25,000 BC

An Incipient Jōmon pottery vessel reconstructed from fragments (10,000-8,000 BCE), Tokyo National Museum, Japan

Early Pottery

A brief summary can be found in the History section of the article on Pottery.

The earliest-known ceramic objects are figurines. 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 vessels found include those excavated from the Yuchanyan Cave in southern China, dated from 16,000 BCE, and those found in the Amur River basin in the Russian Far East, dated from 14,000 BCE. Other earlier pottery vessels include those made by the Incipient Jōmon people of Japan from around 10,500 BCE have also been found.

Earthenware pottery started being made between 10,000 and 5,000 in China, Japan, North Africa, India, the Fertile Crescent, and South America Pottery was in use in ancient India, including areas now forming Pakistan and northwest India, during the Mehrgarh Period II (5,500-4,800 BCE).

Stoneware, which requires much higher temperature firing and clays that can be fired at high temperatures, was developed in China as early as the fifteenth century BCE. Other cultures created stoneware somewhat later.

Porcelain, requires kilns that fire at still higher temperatures. It also requires special clays that can withstand those temperatues. China had access to such clays and had developed a variety of high-firing kilns. Methods of Forming Hand-shaping was the earliest method used to form vessels. This included the combination of Pinching and Coiling.

The potter's wheel was invented in Mesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and 4,000 BCE (Ubaid period) revolutionized pottery production. Specialized potters were then able to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities.

Bisque molds were used to a limited extent as early as the 5th and 6th century by the Etruscans and more extensively by the Romans .

Slipcasting, a popular method for forming clay in mass production today, was practice to a limited degree in China as early as the T'ang dynasty

Firing

Pit fired pottery: The earlist method for firing pottery wares was the use of bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved in the fire could be high, perhaps in the region of 900 °C (1,650 °F), and were reached very quickly.

Transition to kilns: The earliest intentionally-constructed 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.

kilns: Pit fire methods were adequate for creating earthenware, but higher-fired stoneware and porcelain required more sophisticated methods of firing using high-fire kilns (see below kilns).

Clay: Early potters used whatever clay was available to them in their geographic vicintity. However, the lowest quality common red clay was adequate for low temperature fires used for the earliest pots.

Glazing: Becase it required higher temperatures for firing, early pots were not glazed.

Clays Used for Pottery

• Kaolin: Sometimes referred to as China clay because it is used to make quality porcelain china. This is a form of pure clay which is 100% Kaolinite, free of any other mineral ccomponent.

• Ball clay: An extremely plastic, fine grained sedimentary clay, which may contain some organic matter. It is usually added to poreclain to incresase plasticity.

• Fire clay: A clay having a slightly higher percentage of fluxes than Kaolin, but usually quite plastic. It is highly heat resistant form of clay which can be combined with other clays to increase the firing temperature and may be used as an ingredient to make stoneware type bodies.

• Stoneware clay Suitable for creating Stoneware. This clay has many of the characteristics between Fire clay and ball clay, having finer grain, like ball clay but more heat resistant like fire clays.

• Common red clay and Shale clay: Not generally suitable for Earthenware unless it is combined with other types of clay. It has vegetable and Ferric oxide impurities which make them useful for bricks, but are generally unsatisfactory for pottery except under special conditions of a particular deposit.

• Bentonite: An extremely plastic clay which can be added in small quantities to short clay to make it more plastic.

• Slip clay: Not a separate type of clay. The term refers to any type of naturally occurring clay "...which contains sufficient fluxes to function as a glaze without further additions".

Glazing and Decoration

For a brief review of methods see Decorating and glazing in the Pottery article

Decoration of a pot can take a wide range of forms: glaze; incising; building up.

A Glaze can serve two functions:
1. A glaze onto a porous earthenware pot will make it non-porous.
2. A glaze onto any form of pottery can be used as a decoration.

Because of the low temperatures available for firing, the earliest pots were unglazed and undecorated. The earliest decoration of pottery involved painting geometric patterns on earthenware. Painting of natural forms developed later. Pots were sometimes burnished or covered with a vegetable glaze after firing In time, higher temperatures were reached by simple kilns which allowed for some forms of glazing. Glazed tiles have been found in Egypt dating from the middle of the 6th millenium BCE. Glazed pottery from late 6th or early 5th millenium BCE has been found in Harappa sites in India. By the beginning of the common era, potters in the Near East, Mediterranean, Europe, and Far East. were able to apply glaze to their earthenware pottery. African and American Indian cultures acheived some use of decorative glazes, but did not develop vitreous glazes.

History of Pottery Types

Earthenware

The earliest forms of pottery were made from clays that were fired at low temperatures in pit-fires or in open bonfires. They were hand formed and undecorated. Because the bisque form of earthenware is porous, it has limited utility for storage of liquids. However, earthenware has a continuous history from the Neolithic period to today. It can be made from a wide variety of clays. Many of the clays that can be turned to pottery at low temperatures are also more plastic than many of those that are fired at higher temperatures, especially those used for porcelain. The development of Ceramic glaze which makes it vitreous and non-porous makes it a popular and practical form of pottery making. The addition of decoration has evolved throughout its history.

Stoneware

Main article: Stoneware

Glazed Stoneware was being created as early as the 15th century BCE in China. This achievement coincided with kilns that could be fired at higher temperatures.

Porcelain

Main article: Porcelain

Porcelain was first made in China during the Tang Dysnasty (618-906 CE) and refined during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE). Porcelain was also made in Korea and Japan around the 16th and 17th century AD after suitable kaolin was located in those countries. It was not created outside of the area until the 18th century.

History by Region

Far East Asia

Main article: Chinese ceramics

The Far East, sometimes called the Orient, has excelled in all categories on the history of making pottery. Pottery sherds have been found in both Japan and China from a period between 12,000 and perhaps as long as 16,000 years ago. Glazed Stoneware was being created as early as the 15th century BCE in China. The earliest know porcelain pottery was created during the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) and refined during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Korean potters produced porcelain as early as the 14th century CE. Koreans brought the art of porcelain to Japan in the 17th century CE.. The secret of making porcelain was sought in the Islamic world and later in Europe when examples were imported from the East. Many attempts were made to imitate it in Italy and France. However it was not produced outside of the Orient until 1709 in Germany..

Middle East

Pottery making began in the Fertile Crescent from the 7th millenium BCE. The earliest forms, which were found at the Hassuna site, were hand formed from slabs, undecorated, unglazed low-fired pots made from redish-brown clays. Within the next millenium, wares were decorated with elaborate painted designs and natural forms, incising and burnished.
By 4000 BCE, the potters wheel was developed. Newer kiln designs could fire wares to 1,050 °C (1,920 °F) to 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) which enabled new possibilities and new preparation of clays. Production was now carried out by small groups of potters for small cities, rather than individuals making wares for a family. The shapes and range of uses for ceramics and pottery expanded beyond simple vessels to store and carry to specialized cooking utensils, pot stands and rat traps.
As the region developed new organizations and political forms, pottery became more elaborate and varied. Some wares were made using molds, allowing for more mass-production for the needs of the growing populations. Glazing was commonly used and pottery was more decorated.

Agean Region

Main articles: Minoan pottery, Pottery of ancient Greece, and Ancient Roman pottery

Civilization developed concurrently with the Fertile Crescent in the ancient Mediterranean islands around Greece from around 3200 to 1000 BCE and carried to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome that is considered the Classical era in the Western world. The arts of these cultures eventually became a hallmark for Europe and the New World.

The Minoan pottery was characterized by elaborate painted decoration with natural themes.

The clasical Greek culture began to emerge around 1000 BCE featuring a variety of well crafted pottery which now included the human form as a decorating motif. The pottery wheel was now in regular use. Although glazing was known to these potters, it was not widely used. Instead, a more porous clay slip was used for decoration. A wide range of shapes for different uses developed early and remained essentially unchanged during the Greek history.

The Etruscan pottery carried on the Greek pottery with its own variations.

The Ancient Roman pottery started by copying Greek and Etruscan styles but soon developed a style of its own.

Islamic Pottery

Main article: Islamic pottery

Early Islamic pottery followed the forms of the regions which the Muslims conquered. Eventually, however, there was cross-fertilization between the regions. This was most notable in the Chinese influences on Islamic pottery. China imported the minerals for Cobalt blue from the Islamic ruled Persia to decorate their Blue and white porcelain, which they then exported to the Islamic world.

Likewise, Islamic art contributed to a lasting pottery form identified as Hispano-Moresque in Andalucia (Islamic Spain). Unique Islamic forms were also developed, including Fritware, Lusterware and specialized glazes like Tin-glazing, which led to the development of the popular Maiolica.

However, one a major emphasis in cermamic developmnent in the Muslim world was the use of tile and decorative tilework.

Europe

Main article: Linear Pottery culture

The early inhabitants of Europe developed pottery at about the same time as in the Near East, circa 5500–4500 BCE. These cultures were eventually shaped by the invasions of Ancient Rome and Islam. The Rennaisance art of Europe was a melding of the art of Classical era and Islamic art

Americas

Main article: Native American pottery

Most evidence points to an independent development of pottery in the Amerindian cultures, starting with their Archaic Era (3500-2000 BCE), and into their Formative period (2000 BCE-200 CE). These cultures did not develop the high-fire pottery or glazes found in the old world.

Africa

Northern Africa includes Egypt which had several distinct phases of developmnent in pottery. During the early Mediterranean civilizations of the fertile crescent, Egypt developed a unique non-clay based high-fired ceramic which has come to be called Egyptian Faience.

. The other major phase came during the Umayyad Caliphate of Islam, Egypt was a link between early center of Islam in the Near East and Iberia which led to the impressive style of pottery.

Sub-Saharan Africa had a distinctly different history with relatively less development of pottery.

Oceania

Oceania (Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia)
Pottery has been found in archeological sites across the islands of Oceania. It is attributed to an ancient archaeological culture called the Lapita. A form of pottery called Plainware is found throughout sites of Oceania. The relationship between Lapita pottery and Plainware is not altogether clear.

Australia is sometimes counted as part of Oceania. However, it had a quite differen development. The Aborigines of Australia were hunting gatherer tribes and did not farm or cultivate crops. In keeping with these cultural features, they also never developed pottery. After Europeans came to Australia and settled, they found deposits of clay which were analyzed by English potters as excelent for making pottery. Less than 20 years later, Europeans came to Australia and began creating pottery. Since then, ceramic manufacturing, mass produced pottery, and studio pottery has flourished in Australia.