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

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.