The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia

Akiri Tsuneki · Olivier Nieuwenhuyse · Stuart Campbell

Mar 2017 · Oxbow Books

About this ebook

Over the past fifty years or so early pottery complexes in the wider region of West Asia have hardly ever been investigated in their own right. Early ceramics have often been unexpected by-products of projects focussing upon much earlier aceramic or later prehistoric periods. In recent years, however, there has been a tremendous increase in research in various parts of West Asia focusing explicitly on this theme. It had generally become accepted that the adoption of pottery in West Asia happened relatively late in the history of ceramics. Several regions are now believed to have developed pottery significantly earlier. Thus, pottery occurs in Eastern Russia, in China and Japan by 16,500 cal. BC and in north Africa it is known in the 10th millennium. However, while the East Asian examples in particular do mark chronologically earlier instances, the picture in West Asia is actually rather more complex, in part because of the tyranny of the Aceramic/Ceramic Neolithic chronology. For the first time, The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia examines in detail the when, where, how and why pottery first arrived in the region? A key insight that emerges is that we must not confuse the reasons for pottery adoption with the long-term consequences. Neolithic peoples in West Asia did not adopt pottery because of the many uses and functions it would gain many centuries later and the development of ceramic technology needs to be examined in the context of its original cultural and social milieu.

About the author

Olivier Nieuwenhuyse was a Dutch archaeologist affiliated with Leiden University, which has a long tradition of archaeological prehistoric research in the ancient Near East. He had conducted fieldwork in Lebanon, Turkey and Syria, and was most recently active in northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan). He was published extensively, including several monographs. The prehistoric ceramic traditions of the Middle East were his specialty. He was also active in international efforts to safeguard endangered archaeological heritage in Syria and Iraq. Sadly, Dr. Nieuwenhuyse passed away in 2020.