Early pots were most likely made using hand-building techniques, particularly coiling, and there are various theories as to how the potter’s wheel developed out of these techniques.
Early pots were most likely made using hand-building techniques, particularly coiling, and there are various theories as to how the potter’s wheel developed out of these techniques. One that is fairly reasonable suggests that while using two stone plates, one stacked atop another to make a turntable for coiling, ancient potters realized that if they could spin the top plate faster, they could make smoother pots. Early utilitarian pottery was thick-walled, uneven and typically unglazed. It likely began with people making storage jars for food and water. But whoever could afford to do so, certainly in ancient Egypt, used everyday and ceremonial vessels made of bronze, iron or precious metals. By the middle of the tenth century B.C., though, pottery had developed to the point that there are historical records of a family of potters living in a palace to do the king’s work. In fact, most of the most ancient pottery artifacts in existence today were preserved in king’s tombs.