Discover the secrets of pottery


Pottery overview

Pottery is very important, it is alsofired at higher temperatures, which is
type of ceramic material, which thepartially vitrified is called stoneware.
American Society for Testing andFine earthenware with a white tin glaze
Materials (ASTM) has defined as "(a)llis known as faience. Porcelain is a very
fired ceramic wares that contain clayrefined, smooth, white body that, when
when formed, except technical,fired to vitrification, can have
structural, and refractory products."translucent qualities
The term pottery is also used for aThe development of pottery was a
technique involving ceramic, where claymilestone in human history. These
is mixed with other minerals and isdurable and watertight containers
formed into objects, including vesselsenabled people to boil and steam food
generally designed for utilitarianwhich allowed them to exploit new
purposes.sources of food such as shellfish,
A Pottery is a facility of any size,acorns, and leafy vegetables. Soft
from a modest studio to anboiled foods could be eaten by toothless
industrialized factory, where pottery ischildren and the elderly, which
made. Where resources are available -permitted caregivers to spend more time
raw materials, workers, transportation -producing food. In Japan, for instance,
groups of potteries may exist. Due tothe introduction of pottery was followed
the large number of pottery factories,by a population explosion. In the
or colloquially 'Pot Banks', the City ofarchaeology of the Eastern Woodlands of
Stoke-on-Trent in England became knownNorth America the introduction of
as The Potteries; one of the firstpottery is referred to as the container
industrial cities of the modern erarevolution.
where as early as 1785 200 potterySince pottery is a durable, man-made
manufacturers employed 20,000 workers.artifact which was utilized by various
The Potters is the nickname of the localcultures around the world, it has proven
football club, Stoke City F.C.. The sameto be a boon for archaeologists. Broken
name is used for sports teams in thepottery in archaeological sites, called
one-time "Pottery Capital of the World,"sherds or shards, help identify the
East Liverpool, Ohio.resident culture and date the stratum by
Pottery production is a process by whichthe formation, style and decoration. The
a clay body, clay mixed with otherrelative chronologies based on pottery
minerals, is shaped and allowed to dry.are essential for dating the remains of
The shaped clay body, or piece, ware ornon-literate cultures and help in the
article, may be "bisque or biscuitdating of some historic cultures as
fired" in a kiln to induce permanentwell. Trace element analysis, mostly by
changes that result in increasedneutron activation, allows the sources
mechanical strength, and then fired aof clay to be accurately identified.
second time after adding a glaze or aWhile ceramics had been developed in
piece may be once fired by applyingEurope also, pottery was first developed
appropriate glaze to the dry unfiredby the Jomon in Japan around 10,500 BCE.
body and firing in one cycle.It appears that pottery was then
With mass production techniques havingindependently developed in North Africa
replaced the traditional role studioduring the 10th millennium b.p. and in
potters have focused more on theSouth America during the 7th millennium
aesthetic than the utilitarianb.p.
Traditionally, different regions of theThe invention of the potter's wheel in
world have used produced different typesMesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and
of clay, sometimes mixed with other2,400 BCE revolutionized pottery
minerals, to produce regionallyproduction. Specialized potters were
distinctive pottery. It is common forthen able to meet the burgeoning needs
different clays and minerals to be mixedof the world's first cities.
to produce clay bodies suited toWhile artistic value of Classical Greek
specific purposes. Pottery that is firedand Roman pottery largely consisted of
at temperatures in the 800 to 1200the surface decoration, the pottery
°C range, which does not vitrifyitself was an important art form in
in the kiln but remains slightly porousChina, where efficient kilns allowed
is often called earthenware or terrahigh temperature ware to be fired with
cotta. Clay bodies formulated to bewood, long before the use of coal.



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