"Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form."
The study of ancient pottery and its uses.
Clay types and properties: The various types of clay used for pottery, their characteristics, and how they respond to forming techniques.
Potter’s wheel: The history and use of the potter’s wheel in pottery making, including the different types of wheels and forms made on the wheel.
Hand building techniques: Techniques that involve forming pottery by hand, such as pinching, coiling, and slab construction.
Kilns and firing processes: The different types of kilns used in pottery making, along with the firing processes that transform clay into ceramics.
Glazing and decorations: The various techniques used for decorating pottery, including glazing, slip coating, and painting.
History of pottery: The development of pottery from prehistoric times to the present, along with an overview of pottery-making techniques and technologies used throughout history.
Identifying pottery: Techniques for identifying pottery, including the analysis of clay type, decoration, and form.
Archaeological excavation techniques: The methods used to excavate pottery fragments and other archaeological finds, as well as the process of cataloging and analyzing their findings.
Conservation and restoration of pottery: Techniques used to restore and care for archaeological pottery finds, including methods for cleaning, stabilizing, and reconstructing pottery fragments.
Pottery in society: The social, cultural, and economic significance of pottery in various societies throughout history, including the role of pottery in trade and commerce, religious practices, and artistry.
Black-Figure Pottery: Invented in Corinth, Greece around 700 BC, black-figure pottery was a technique of applying black slip to a red clay vessel and then scratching or incising the design into the slip. The vessel was then fired, and the black slip turned to a glossy black, contrasting with the unslipped areas which remained red.
Red-Figure Pottery: Similar to black-figure pottery, red-figure pottery was invented around the end of the sixth century BC and was a technique of applying a red slip to a ceramic vessel and then painting the design with a black glaze on the unslipped areas. The result was a vessel with red figures on a black background.
White-Ground Pottery: White-ground pottery was a type of pottery used in Ancient Greece beginning in the fifth century BC. While some white-ground vessels were painted in the red-figure style, the white ground was often left unpainted or only lightly decorated, with the natural color of the clay serving as the background.
Corinthian Pottery: Corinthian pottery was produced in the city of Corinth in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. The most famous pieces were small, elaborately decorated vases, which were often decorated with black-figure figures and red-figure decoration.
Attic Pottery: Attic pottery was produced in Athens and the surrounding area from the sixth century BC onwards. Attic pottery was at the forefront of many pottery innovations in the classical world, and Athenian potters produced some of the most famous and beautiful pieces.
Campanian Pottery: Campanian pottery was a popular type of pottery produced in the Campania region of Italy from the sixth century BC through the first century AD. Campanian pottery was often decorated with elaborate scenes of mythological or everyday life, and many pieces were brightly painted.
Etruscan Pottery: Etruscan pottery was produced in the Etruscan civilization that existed in modern-day Italy during the first millennium BC. Etruscan pottery often featured figurative scenes, sometimes influencing Greek pottery, and frequently featured black-figure and red-figure designs.
Roman Pottery: Roman pottery was produced by the Roman Empire, which ruled over much of the Mediterranean world from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Roman pottery was highly varied and incorporated a wide range of styles borrowed from other classical civilizations.
Mycenaean Pottery: Mycenaean pottery was produced by the Mycenaean civilization, which flourished in Greece from the sixteenth century BC to the twelfth century BC. Mycenaean pottery was often decorated with complex geometric designs and often featured scenes of warriors or hunting scenes.
"Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a desired shape and heating them to high temperatures (600–1600 °C) in a bonfire, pit, or kiln, which induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing the strength and rigidity of the object."
"End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitaryware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware."
"The definition of pottery, used by the ASTM International, is 'all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products'."
"The earliest known pottery vessels were discovered in Jiangxi, China, which date back to 18,000 BC."
"Pottery is traditionally divided into three types: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain."
"An article can be decorated before or after firing."
"Cooking in pottery became less popular once metal pots became available, but is still used for dishes that benefit from the qualities of pottery cooking, typically slow cooking in an oven, such as biryani, cassoulet, daube, tagine, jollof rice, kedjenou, cazuela, and types of baked beans."
"End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitaryware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware."
"In art history and archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, pottery often means vessels only, and sculpted figurines of the same material are called terracottas."
"Heating them to high temperatures (600–1600 °C) in a bonfire, pit, or kiln..."
"Other early Neolithic and pre-Neolithic pottery artifacts have been found, in Jōmon Japan (10,500 BC), the Russian Far East (14,000 BC), Sub-Saharan Africa (9,400 BC), South America (9,000s–7,000s BC), and the Middle East (7,000s–6,000s BC)."
"For example, fritware uses no or little clay, so falls outside these groups."
"Historic pottery of all these types is often grouped as either 'fine' wares, relatively expensive and well-made, and following the aesthetic taste of the culture concerned, or alternatively 'coarse', 'popular', 'folk' or 'village' wares, mostly undecorated, or simply so, and often less well-made."
"Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions, originating before the Neolithic period, with ceramic objects such as the Gravettian culture Venus of Dolní Věstonice figurine discovered in the Czech Republic dating back to 29,000–25,000 BC."
"End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitaryware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware."
"Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials..."
"All three may be glazed and unglazed."
"Cooking in pottery became less popular once metal pots became available..."
"Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions, originating before the Neolithic period... Pottery often means vessels only, and sculpted figurines of the same material are called terracottas."