Origins of pottery technology in the ancient Near East: an examination of the technological and socioeconomic factors that contributed to the innovation and widespread use of pottery
Author(s)
Advisor
Gates, Marie-HenrietteDate
2004Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The objective of this thesis is to research the invention and innovation of
pottery technology in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, in particular the Late and Final PrePottery
Neolithic B and Early Pottery Neolithic in the Near East. My approach will
involve examining the various factors that are involved with the origins of clay vessel
manufacture including: 1) the context of this event like the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and
Early Pottei7 Neolithic Societies; 2) the history of clay vessel manufacture such as the
sporadic invention of pottery before its widespread adoption; 3) preceding technology;
4) circulation of goods and cultural and technological change; 5) settlement pattern
change and movements of people; 6) domestication of animals and emergence of
pastoralism; 7) ethno-archaeological comparisons; 8) ecological conditions; 9) social
choice. The origins of pottery technology on a large scale are interrelated to all of these
factors, and would not have emerged without all of these circumstances in place.
Keywords
PotteryTechnology
Invention
Innovation
PPNB
EPN
Near East
Pastoralism
Domestication
Exchange
Settlement change
Clay familiarity
Plaster making
Pyro-technology
Clay vessels