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 place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. 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". End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitary ware, 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.
Stoneware is a broad term for pottery fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. End applications include tableware, decorative ware such as vases.
Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of the Roman Empire; and more recently, as a description of a contemporary studio pottery technique supposedly inspired by ancient pottery. Usually roughly translated as 'sealed earth', the meaning of 'terra sigillata' is 'clay bearing little images', not 'clay with a sealed (impervious) surface'. The archaeological term is applied, however, to plain-surfaced pots as well as those decorated with figures in relief, because it does not refer to the decoration but to the makers stamp impressed in the bottom of the vessel.
Minoan pottery has been used as a tool for dating the mute Minoan civilization. Its restless sequence of quirky maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the strata of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, in Cyprus, along coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.
Godin Tepe is an archaeological site in western Iran, located in the valley of Kangavar in Kermanshah province. The importance of the site may have been due to its role as a trading outpost in the early Mesopotamian trade networks.
Pottery and ceramics have been produced in the Levant since prehistoric times.
Minyan ware is a broad archaeological term describing varieties of a particular style of Aegean burnished pottery associated with the Middle Helladic period. The term was coined in the 19th century by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann after discovering the pottery in Orchomenos, Greece. Excavations conducted during the 1960s confirmed that Minyan ware evolved from the burnished pottery developed by the Tiryns culture of the Early Helladic III period.
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used for transporting and storing liquids and other products – in this case probably mostly Spanish olive oil, which was landed nearby, and was the main fuel for lighting, as well as its use in the kitchen and washing in the baths.
The pottery of ancient Cyprus starts during the Neolithic period. Throughout the ages, Cypriot ceramics demonstrate many connections with cultures from around the Mediterranean. During the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, it is especially imaginative in shape and decoration. There are also many early terracotta figurines that were produced depicting female figures.
Crambeck Ware is a type of Romano-British ceramic produced in North Yorkshire primarily in the 4th century AD.
Chirand is an archaeological site in the Saran district of Bihar, India, situated on the northern bank of the Ganga River. It has a large pre-historic mound which is known for its continuous archaeological record from the Neolithic age to the reign of the Pal dynasty who ruled during the pre-medieval period. The excavations in Chirand have revealed stratified Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age settlements, and transitions in human habitation patterns dating from 2500 BC to 30 AD.
The basic chronology of the early town of Manda Island in the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya is divided into 6 different periods, based mostly on the types of imported pottery that has been found in different strata of the excavations. The first period, I, begins in the mid ninth century and is subdivided into four parts, a, b, c, and d, ending in the early eleventh century. Period II has two parts, A and B, though the divide between the two is rather vague and could be entirely arbitrary, and dates from the mid eleventh to the late twelfth for the former, and late twelfth to late thirteenth century for the latter. Period III runs from the late thirteenth century to the fourteenth when Period IV picks up and ends in the early Sixteenth. Period V covers the mid Sixteenth and all of the seventeenth, and the final period covers everything after the Seventeenth century.
Sandy ware, also known as Early Medieval Sandy ware, is a type of pottery found in Great Britain from the sixth through the fourteenth centuries. The pottery fabric is tempered with enough quartz sand mixed in with the clay for it to be visible in the fabric of the pot. Sandy ware was commonly used in Southeast England and the East Midlands.
Shelly ware, is a type of pottery found in Great Britain from the seventh through the twelfth centuries. Shelly ware includes Late Saxon Shelly ware, Early Medieval Shelly Ware, and Lincolnshire Shelly Wares. The pottery fabric is tempered with shell powder or reduced shell. Shelly ware was typically handmade until the tenth century, when potters transitioned to wheel-thrown pottery. Shelly wares were manufactured and distributed in the Upper Thames Valley, southeastern coastal areas of Britain and the East Midlands.
Ancient Egyptian pottery includes all objects of fired clay from ancient Egypt. First and foremost, ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Such items include beer and wine mugs and water jugs, but also bread moulds, fire pits, lamps, and stands for holding round vessels, which were all commonly used in the Egyptian household. Other types of pottery served ritual purposes. Ceramics are often found as grave goods.
Surrey whiteware or Surrey white ware, is a type of lead-glazed pottery produced in England from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The white-fired sandy earthenware was produced largely from kilns in Surrey and along the Surrey-Hampshire border. Surrey whitewares were the most commonly used pottery in London during the late medieval period. There are four classes of Surrey whiteware: Kingston-type, Coarse Border ware, Cheam whiteware and Tudor Green ware.
Border ware is a type of post-medieval British pottery commonly used in the South of England, London and then later in the early American colonies beginning in the sixteenth and ending in the nineteenth century with a height of popularity and production in the seventeenth century. The lead-glazed, sandy earthenware was produced from kilns along the border between Hampshire and Surrey. There are two classes of Border ware, fine whitewares and fine redwares.
Shelly-sandy ware(SSW) is a type of medieval pottery produced in Great Britain. The pottery fabric is tempered with both sand and shell, most commonly quartz sand and ground-up shell. The fabric is generally dark grey in colour with brown oxidised surfaces. SSW was typically handmade until the potters transitioned to wheel-thrown pottery production. The pottery was manufactured and distributed primarily from 1140—1220 AD in the Greater London area.
Hirbemerdon Tepe is an archaeological site in Turkey located in the east of Diyarbakir Province, on the western bank of the Tigris River, 40 kilometers east of Bismil, Turkey. The settlement began in the fourth millennium BCE during the Chalcolithic era, and continued to the time of the Ottoman Empire. The earliest pottery at the site is similar to the chaff-faced ware of Uruk period.
