Container revolution (pottery)

Container Revolution refers to the introduction of pottery to use as containers.

Regarding the Eastern Woodlands of North America during the Archaic period; as these societies became more sedentary, they were able to manufacture and use vessels that would have broken during transportation. Pots allowed for more efficient processing of wild seeds, which created less work for people when the pots were made waterproof. More-efficient seed collection systems and the deliberate manipulation of the native plants, in turn led to the domestication of several plant species. This is just one of many cultural developments that began during this time.

History

The process of creating strong ceramic pieces, in this case containers, has developed over the centuries to where now we use better technology to make them stronger, making the process quicker and safer. The first archaeological record of ceramic containers comes from East Asia, in the Xianrendong Cave. Dating back to around 18,000 BCE, 282 pottery segments were discovered; they had thick, rugged, and rough walls up to 1.5 inches. The materials used for the ancient pottery were clay with a temper consisting of sand, quartz, or feldspar. The brittle pots were shaped in jar-like vessels and colored brown and red in uneven patterns; the unevenness was due to letting the pots harden in the open air. They were either created by coiling clay strips on each other or molding it out by hand with a paddle technique. Remains of shells, burn marks, and soot tell us that the containers were used for boiling foods and other actions over a fire. In addition, a similar site was uncovered called the Yuchanyan Cave dating back to about 18,300-15,430 BCE. The cave had similar ceramic remains with similar colors, textures, materials, and environment. The Yuchanyan Cave had one significant difference: the pots found were low-fired, heated to temperatures as high as 500 degrees Celsius to harden. The process of firing the pots was one of the first resemblances to a modern-day kiln. The two caves containing ancient pottery were both located in Northern China within a moderate distance of the Yangtze River. After ceramics traveled around China and expanded out to other parts of Asia, it started to become a more common use of container materials because it could hold liquids and withstand high temperatures, and the materials needed were accessible. One place where ceramics came to was Japan.

Ceramic containers in Japan took on more exact dimensions, and artifacts became more consistent and clean. This was during Japan’s first stone age, around 14500-1000 BCE. The pottery from Japan during this period was referred to as Jomon Pottery because “Jomon” means “cord patterns.” Most of the first ceramic containers and artifacts found had cord patterns on the outside. Jomon Pottery was most likely used for storing and boiling rice as rice came from mainland Asia into Japan’s society. During this period, Japan was transitioning from a hunter-gatherer society to a settled one, where they picked up rice cultivation, some animal husbandry, and intensive fishing. These factors furthermore provided the necessary use for ceramic containers. Creating Jomon Pottery consisted of similar techniques used in earlier Asian cultures. All Jomon vessels were handmade using a coil technique as they stacked them on each other. The materials used in this pottery were different; they used soft clay mixed with lead, mica, and crushed shells. These additions were used as adhesive additives. After creating the coils, the potter would smooth out the inside and outside of the vessel. Finally, it was fired in an outdoor bonfire that would not exceed 600 degrees Celsius. As technology progressed in Japan, temperatures could have increased to 900 degrees Celsius. In the early Jomon Period (5000-2500 BCE), pots stayed as general cylinders and bag-shaped pots; only in the middle Jomon Period ((2500–1500 BCE)) did vessels start to be more detailed, have more varied shapes, and more decorative. Finally, in the late Jomon Period (1500–1000 BCE), ceramics branched out to be used for ceremonial purposes and leaped to become more decorative. Around 10,000 BCE, ceramics started to appear in other parts of the world, such as Northern Africa, the Middle East, and some parts of Europe. Most, if not all, of the ceramic containers worldwide used similar materials, techniques, and uses as the ones in ancient China. Mesopotamia was one civilization that significantly changed ceramic technology.

They developed the potter’s wheel with clay and ceramics sometime during the Fourth Millennium BCE. The potter’s wheel was a tool in pottery that will continue to be used until modern times. The invention of the potter’s wheel in Southern Mesopotamia was revolutionary because it created a technique for pottery that would create concentric vessels with fewer imperfections. The wheel was fixed on a rotation axle where the potter would spin it with their hand, an extension allowing the wheel to be spun with the foot or an external energy source. The technique of the wheel in Southern Mesopotamia differed from the South and the North, where archeological evidence showed the South incorporated “not-hand tools” such as wedges of solid materials in the forming of a pot. Using wedges on the wheel created a smoother surface with fewer imperfections in the finished product. The North tended to use their hands to create pots; similar to many past artifacts from previous civilizations. Relative to all previous civilizations, Mesopotamia’s use for the pots was for storage, cooking, ceremonial uses, and food. Southern Mesopotamia’s invention of the potter’s wheel would improve as history moved on, permanently changing ceramics.

A second revolutionary invention was the ceramic glaze. Glaze is a liquid substance painted onto ceramics that, when fired and heated to extreme temperatures, would melt into different colors of glass. One of the very first records of glaze originates from Ancient China during the warring states period. (475–221 BC) During the Han Dynasty, glazed pottery flourished and different techniques, colors, and types of processes to glaze ceramics were introduced. Materials were added to the glaze, such as lead and other chemicals, to create different glazes. The invention of glaze was not only for decoration but also made ceramics much smoother and could hold water without getting partially absorbed or leaking.