| One of the indicators of early civilization is pottery. | | | | remote areas of Africa and Indo-China. |
| With people settling down in one centralized area | | | | Ceramic technology didn't change much until the |
| and importing food from outlying farms, storage | | | | creation of the wheel in Mesopotamia around |
| became a necessity. Woven containers of grass | | | | 6000 BP. The wheel allowed people to stop |
| and reeds were most likely the first crafted | | | | dragging things around, stop relying on pushing |
| vessels for dry goods, while the preserved | | | | rafts on rolling logs, and to carry heavier loads. |
| stomaches of large grazing animals is good for | | | | War chariots were invented, but potters found a |
| liquid storage, but those all wear out very quickly. | | | | much more peaceful use for the application of the |
| The practice of shaping mud with other materials | | | | wheel. |
| and letting it harden in the sun to create building | | | | The very first potter's wheels were not much |
| materials is a practice that helped keep humans | | | | more than half a wheelshaft stuck upright in a |
| out of the weather back in the stone age. A | | | | stone base. These wheels would have had to |
| similar practice is still currently used by wasps, | | | | have been turned by hand. They were not the |
| beavers and other such creatures. It's entirely | | | | kick wheels which would have been invented in |
| possible that we learned it from them. | | | | later centuries. The process by which pots were |
| The invention of heating the dried clay to | | | | made using these wheels can only be described |
| extremely high temperatures surely came about | | | | as "fast coiling", as opposed to "throwing". |
| by accidentally dropping clay in some very hot | | | | In the centuries to follow, pottery wheels do not |
| fire, and then discovering its properties changed | | | | undergo any huge changes. The Egyptians come |
| after it cooled. Afterwards, discovering all the | | | | up with pottery wheels that can be turned with |
| uses of a substance that is easy to shape, which | | | | the foot, but the materials available do not lend |
| then fires to a stone-like substance surely came | | | | themselves to a free-spinning thrower's wheel as |
| quickly. | | | | we know them today. There was too much |
| The creation of pots or other ceramic vessels | | | | friction involved, and they would slow down far |
| would have happened soon after ceramics came | | | | too quickly. |
| about. They are just too useful to be ignored. | | | | In 16th century, Italy, we have records of bench |
| Early pots clearly had their creation at least | | | | high potters wheels with heavy kickwheels at the |
| partially to thank from the early grass and reed | | | | base. In the 19th century, with the industrial |
| baskets, as evidenced by the coiled process by | | | | revolution, we have low friction pottery wheels in |
| which they were made. | | | | nearly the same design that would spin very fast. |
| Early pots, as old as 14,000 before the present | | | | This was the true time for pot throwing! |
| (BP) were created by coiling clay in a circular | | | | The technique involved kicking the wheel to a fast |
| pattern around and around, pressed together and | | | | speed, then throwing the clay and shaping it. |
| shaped with the fingers. The potters would have | | | | When the wheel slowed down, you would stop |
| turned the vessel itself at the base, in order to | | | | shaping the clay and kick the wheel up again, and |
| try to get the vessel shaped correctly. The | | | | then resume shaping the clay in a cyclical action. |
| narrow base, common among pots made in this | | | | This wheel is silent, fast, and heavy. |
| fashion, makes the pot much easier to turn during | | | | There are many people today who prefer this |
| the creation process. | | | | type of potter's wheel to the new, electric ones |
| Soon, the creation of the pots was evolved to a | | | | that do not need to be kicked, and run at a |
| point where they were placed on a plate or in a | | | | variable speed controlled with a dial. However, |
| bowl, and built up from there, still using the clay | | | | with new technology comes new techniques to |
| coiling technique. The plate or bowl allowed the | | | | explore. The new, constant speed potter's wheels |
| maker to turn the pot much more easily! Pots | | | | are still very new. The techniques not as old as |
| were smoothed out during the creation process | | | | civilization as we know it! There are new |
| either with the fingers, or using a rib or other | | | | refinements to be made, still. |
| bone. Pots are still crafted this way today in | | | | |