The Importance of Pottery

Pottery is an art form that has spanned thousands of years. Its importance to humans cannot be understated; it has evolved right alongside human civilization, providing a variety of essential everyday items. Early pottery was primarily made of clay but as the craft developed other materials were added and it took on many forms.

Early pottery was hand built, using coils or flat slabs of clay to construct a vessel that would then be joined together with slip (a runny mixture of water and clay acting like glue). Later potters began to use the wheel to shape their wares, a process known as throwing. This allowed for greater control over the forming of the vessels but it also introduced other problems such as a tendency to warp and crack.

To counter this potters often burnished a piece before firing to produce a polished surface that would survive the high temperatures of the firing. Other techniques included incising, covering with a glaze and painting. These were especially important to ancient Greek potters who sought to emulate the beauty of Chinese porcelain.

Pottery fragments are useful to archaeologists because they give clues about a culture’s lifestyle in a time when written records have been lost. The study of pottery can provide information on diet, a culture’s economic conditions and their understanding of the universe.