Primitive Man and Earthenware
It is very distant that mankind made earthenware before the Bronze Age, but now we can see that the long primitive life of Neanderthal man (250,000 years ago) in the Early Paleolithic Age was finally over. In the late Paleolithic of the Cro-Magnon and Grimaldean races, we can find artifacts that can be called painting and engraving skills, but as for earthenware, it seems that they only kneaded clay to make a plastic figure and then dried it in the sun.
Neolithic Age
The Neolithic period of the Azurian or Mediterranean Iberian peoples, after the following familiar peoples (Aurignacian, Solutrean, and Magdanian periods), finally discovered pottery burning, which is said to have occurred most likely 25,000 to 12,000 years before the present.
Primitive Man Making Fire
If the use of flint is dated to the Heidelbergers (300,000 years ago), then it is possible that the creation of earthenware may be even earlier than the above date. The discovery that these primitive people were able to produce fire for the first time by friction between objects must have been a great wonder and delight to them. Next, they began to know how to use fire to eat and drink, and were thus deceived by the need for eating and drinking utensils.
Earthenware Firing by Primitive Man
The first thing they did was to knead clay with water and twist it by hand, then let it dry in the sun. Then, he discovered that the clay was burnt by fire and thus became hard. Curiosity led him to devise various ways of making it, and he thought that it was first hardened by the heat of firewood in the open air. In Japan, Yayoi earthenware was set on the ground, covered with sand, and then fired with fuel piled up from all sides.
The next type of pottery may have been fired by digging into the ground and building a stone wall around the perimeter of the kiln, but because it was a crude product from a time when people did not yet know how to build pottery kilns, it was less flammable and more prone to breakage. Also, because it was not glazed, it could not help but be infiltrated when liquid was poured into it, or the seasoning of the food inside would be changed.
Kilns for Pottery
In later periods, kilns were constructed by digging a long, narrow hole in a slope and building an arch-shaped kiln with a ceiling made of clay. This is probably the origin of the pottery kiln. (Many famous ceramics of the Kamakura and Ashikaga periods were fired in this type of kiln.) A long kiln was also constructed by dividing the chamber into forty-five rooms, and a climbing kiln was constructed in a chain of round kilns.
Molding Methods of Primitive Man
The first pottery molding method was the ancient Korean method of making three-dimensional vessels such as jars and pots, in which a rope is wound around a stick and thickened, the clay is pressed onto the stick, and the rope is released from the center of the vessel when it has dried a little. Another method is to wind the clay into a spiral and then hand-work the top of the spiral. Later, the use of the potter’s wheel was discovered and it was divided into a hand wheel and a kick wheel, or a pressing mold, plaster molding method, or a power-driven turner was used.
The Beginning of Glaze
It took a long time for the glaze medicine to be applied to this vessel to prevent the absorption of water from entering from the exterior and to put on a shiny and smooth outer coating, and it is said to have been originated in China during the Six Dynasties. The glazed earthenware of the time, such as his Shubu earthenware, is said to have been artificially decorated.
The first glaze application was discovered when ash from the kiln was deposited on vessels that had been fired in the kiln at high heat, causing a chemical change in the surface of the vessels and creating a glassy coating. This accidental occurrence led to the discovery of the method of glazing with ashes, and it was realized that glazes with ashes add an alkaline solvent to the base material, making it easier to dissolve under heat.
Advances in Pottery
Thus, from reddish-brown, porous soft earthenware, blue-fired ceramics were produced. Next came glazed pottery with a smooth glaze, and then stoneware that did not absorb moisture. Finally, they progressed to porcelain, which is solid and beautiful. The time must come when ultra-hard porcelain will be widely produced, as has been attempted by the Japanese Ceramic Society in recent years.
The firing temperature of porcelain is said to range from the number eight to the number six on the Segel pyramid scale, or from 1,250 to 1,460 degrees Celsius, and the hardest Arita porcelain is said to range from 1,370 to 400 degrees Celsius. In short, porcelain of the highest possible fire-resistance is necessary for daily utensils. This would be possible only after economic research into the fire resistance of the raw materials and the low cost of the fuel.
However, for decorative vessels, a certain degree of porcelain is not only sufficient, but soft porcelain is also more convenient in terms of production, as it can be fired in any way desired, including coloring and carving. Hard porcelain requires a high firing temperature, which often results in broken pieces, and the underglaze coloring may become diluted or even completely lost. Therefore, porcelain, which mainly uses blue and blue enameling, is more simple than ceramics in terms of glaze color, so it is possible to add more colors to once-fired porcelain.
As the progress of society has become more complex than simple, the pottery of the past was simple, unglazed earthenware. Therefore, sake cups of this time absorbed water very well and were drunk quickly. The vessels used in the Ouchi Palace and the ritual vessels used in shrines were discarded every time they were used, so they must have been completely clean vessels. In India, too, the use of unglazed pottery was the custom because of the perishable nature of food, and it is said that the human race and the production of pottery here have not progressed much.
Pottery Making Around the World
The manufacture of pottery has been practiced since ancient times in every country where mankind has inhabited the world. It is not uncommon to find exquisite earthenware excavated from ancient Assyria (the ancient kingdom of Asia), including teardrop jars, as well as from ancient sites in the dust and in Rôro, all dating back thousands of years. The fact that the Hiuchinese in China are said to have begun eating food by fire during the reign of the Hiuchinese (around 2,120 B.C.) should confirm that they were already using earthenware in this period.
Pottery and Humanity
As the Frenchman Louie Gueye said, “Pottery is born with mankind,” and although the progress of pottery making in each country has been slow and poor, there is no doubt that all races have made pottery because they were driven by the needs of their lives. The progress of pottery making and the style of production can therefore be used to verify the extent of life of prehistoric mankind, and to show that even in later times, the development of pottery was not a simple matter of development. The most important thing to do is to find out the culture of the time by looking at the homemade pieces that have been excavated in the later years.
