Farming Pottery

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c. 9,000 BC

Humans are thought to have gathered the seeds of wild grasses for food for thousands of years. Around 11,000 years ago, someone in the Middle East realised that they could save some of the grass seeds and plant them. This allowed people to grow a food supply in a location of their choosing. The first archaeological evidence of cultivation is farmed wheat from Abu Hureyra, a Fertile Crescent site in present-day Syria.

c. 18,000 BC

The oldest piece of pottery discovered was found in Jianxi, a district of Henan, China, and dates to about 18,000 BC. The earliest attempts at pottery were not fired; instead, the clay was pressed into a mould and then sun-dried. As a result, early pottery was not very durable. All that remains of these ancient relics are crumbly bits of pots and figurines. The first fired pottery was simply placed in a pit, and a bonfire was built around it. Pit-firing began around 10,000 BC. The kiln, an enclosed oven specifically designed for firing pottery, was invented in Mesopotamia around 1,500 BC.