Chapter 8 Section 3 pottery wheel rotation

We often talk about many great inventions in the civilization era, but we don’t know that there were also many great inventions in the prehistoric era, such as the aforementioned fire making, farming, cooking, weaving, construction and pottery are all great inventions. Here we talk about Talk about the invention and development of pottery. Necessity is the mother of invention.A stable and settled life requires containers and utensils, and bamboo and wood products can no longer fully meet the needs, so pottery was born from the kiln fire.The timing of the invention of pottery is not very clear. Why did humans have a whim to turn clay into utensils?I think it happened by accident.Some say that at first people may have used bamboo baskets covered with mud flakes. After the baskets were burnt out, the mud flakes became more solid. People gradually realized the properties of slime and understood its qualitative changes under high temperature, and obtained the original clay. materialized knowledge.Clay is formed by the weathering of rocks, and when heated above 800°C, it becomes a new substance with a compact structure, which is the origin of pottery vessels.Recognizing this change is not easy, and it is even more difficult to take the first step in pottery.

The production process of pottery has to go through several processes such as soil selection, mud mixing, shaping, drying, and roasting. If it is painted pottery, it also needs to be painted.There is a choice of pottery clay. Generally, low-calcium and high-iron fusible clay, magnesium fusible clay, and high-alumina clay are used.The pottery clay needs to be fine and pure, otherwise it needs to be washed to remove impurities.Pure clay is used as a raw material to make clay pottery, which is suitable for making high-density utensils such as bowls, bottles, and retorts. Most painted pottery and black pottery belong to this category.Sometimes sand and plant charcoal are added to the pottery clay, which is called sandy coarse pottery, which has the characteristics of high temperature resistance and is mostly used in the production of cooking utensils and large storage utensils.Charcoal pottery is popular in the Yangtze River Basin, and the clay is mixed with rice husks, etc., which has good thermal conductivity.

After the pottery clay is prepared and pounded, it can be made into a blank.The original forming technology was handmade, and later the rotating pottery wheel was invented, and the slow wheel trimming transitioned to the fast wheel forming, and the pottery technology developed to a mature stage.The fast wheel forming technology appeared around 5,000 years ago, and the pottery of the Longshan Culture, Qujialing Culture, and Liangzhu Culture in Shandong generally adopted the wheel forming technology.The specific method of fast wheel pottery is: put the clay on the wheel, and with the help of the rapid rotation of the pottery wheel, the clay is pulled into shape and can be trimmed immediately.The advantages of this method are high work efficiency, beautiful appearance, and thin and even tires.

After the invention of the pottery wheel, all kinds of beautiful and durable pottery were produced by potters on the fast rotating wheel. This is the first example of the successful use of mechanical force by prehistoric humans.It is in this kind of rotation that human beings gain faster and faster development speed. When making many pottery, there is also a process of beautification, and some popular patterns are decorated in various ways. These decoration methods mainly include beating, stamping, carving, hollowing out, attaching and painting.There is also a polishing method, which is to polish the surface of the utensil and then roast it, so that the surface of the finished product is shiny. Most painted pottery is also polished before painting.

After the blank is completed, after a period of drying, it can be fired in the kiln.This is a very critical process, and if it is not done well, all previous efforts will be wasted.The earliest pottery firing did not have a dedicated kiln room. Generally, the blanks and fuel were piled up on the flat ground, and the outside was plastered with mud and sealed before being fired.China invented the underground pottery kiln 8,000 years ago, and it has been used for more than 5,000 years; in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it invented the ground kiln, which is still in use today.Crypt-type pottery kilns can be divided into two types: horizontal-type and vertical-type. The former was earlier and more primitive, and was quite popular in the Yangshao Culture Period.The fire chamber of the vertical pit kiln is located at the bottom of the kiln chamber, which helps to increase the temperature in the kiln, which naturally increases the sintering temperature of the pottery and increases the hardness of the pottery.The shaft cave kiln was first invented by the Yangshao people, and it has been popular since the Longshan period.The technology of pottery kiln construction is becoming more and more scientific, and the quality of fired pottery is getting higher and higher.

China's pottery-making technology was invented about 10,000 years ago. Some cave sites in South China have found pottery fragments dating to 10,000 years ago, but no complete vessels have been seen.By around 9000 BP, the evidence for the use of pottery had been established; by around 8000 BP, the pottery industry had been relatively developed, and the technology had gradually matured, and the first painted pottery was also invented at this time.Of course, the quality of the pottery at this time was not too high, the heat was low, brown pottery was more common, and the shape of the pottery was relatively monotonous, mostly cooking and eating utensils.Around 6,000 years ago, it was a peak period for the development and progress of pottery. The pottery was more heated, red pottery, and more types, and the surface decoration was emphasized.Its highest level is reflected in the popularization of painted pottery. Most of the ruins in this period have unearthed exquisite painted pottery, belonging to Yangshao, Daxi, Beiyinyangying, Dawenkou, and Hongshan cultures. Painted pottery in the middle reaches of the Yellow River most developed.About 5,000 years ago, the distribution center of painted pottery moved to the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and the residents of Majiayao culture became the creators of the most beautiful painted pottery culture.At this time, in the Central Plains and southern regions, the development of pottery reached an unprecedented peak. The wheel-making technique was widely used, and thin-bodied pottery appeared, gray and black pottery appeared, and painted pottery declined or even disappeared completely.

China's original pottery, according to ancient legends, has three people who enjoy the invention rights, namely Kunwu, Shennong, and Huangdi.The lost book "Shiben" says that "Kunwu made pottery" and "Shen Nong plowed and made pottery"; "Ancient History Research" says that "the Yellow Emperor began to make pottery (gifted by zeng)".Pottery is the product of the development of prehistoric social life to a certain stage, not necessarily the invention of a certain person in a certain place, but the result of long-term accumulation of experience.Pottery is mainly used in food life, and its origin is obviously the needs of food life.Pottery not only accompanied humans through the Neolithic Age for 5,000-6,000 years, but also accompanied humans to the civilization era.Although in modern life, especially in urban life, pottery seems to be a dispensable item, but other containers that we still use in large quantities, such as porcelain, enamel, etc., no matter in terms of shape and production technology, The shadow of pottery can still be seen, which are new inventions built on the basis of pottery.The improved modern potter's wheel is still spinning, along with the continuous creation of new modern civilization by human beings.