EarlyPotteryResearch Group

Early pottery dates across Eurasia

 

Based on this evidence, it has been proposed6 that, firstly, pottery emerges in East Asia (i.e. Japan, China and the Russian Far East) around 19,000-12,000 BP, possibly independently in each region, with the earliest dates in Southern China1. However, the first pots were only used on a very limited and perhaps experimental basis, possibly for the occasional but very labour-intensive preparation of ‘exotic’ or ‘prestige’ foods that were served only during community feasts.  Secondly, pottery traditions begin to flourish, generating cumulative innovations and intensified usage. In this period, there are noticeable refinements to pottery design to aid performance, and greater variation in forms and volumes. 

 

Many of these developments appear to coincide closely with the steady warming of global temperatures around 11,500 years ago at the start of the Holocene. Produced in much greater quantities, and used much more frequently, pottery may have facilitated new strategies for the processing, storage and serving of a wider array of foodstuffs such as plant foods and aquatic resources. Production and use are integrated into the new water-edge adaptations that are becoming more widespread across Eurasia in the earlier Holocene. The final stage sees the inter-continental dispersal of pottery from East Asia across Northern Eurasia to the Baltic and eastwards to Alaska.