The Potter's Wheel (original) (raw)
2020, Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology
The potter’s wheel was invented in the 5th millennium BC in the Near East and spread across the Mediterranean into southern and eastern Europe during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages before also reaching Asia and, finally, the American continent. The potter’s wheel utilized new technological principles, namely rotational kinetic energy (RKE) combined with manual force, to shape vessels. Initially, however, it seems that the wheel was only used to make small shapes, or medium-sized and larger pots in stages, and was not typically used for wheel-throwing but hybrid techniques. It remains a mystery why ethnographic studies consistently show that the potter’s wheel is almost exclusively associated with male potters.
Related papers
Journal of Archaeological Science: Report, 2021
The present study examined rotation velocity regulation in pottery wheel-throwing. Long assumed to be a key parameter in the control of the centrifugal force, we interpret its role rather as a means to control the linear velocity at the point of hand-clay contact. To test this hypothesis, we set up a field experiment with Indian potters working with a low-inertia kick-wheel. Six expert potters were asked to produce eight types of pots (four shapes x two masses), each type in five specimens (in total each potter threw 40 vessels). We measured the rotation velocity during the pre-forming and forming fashioning phases, as well as the maximal vessel radii at the end of both phases. Results demonstrated that potters reduced the rotation velocity from the pre-forming phase to the forming phase, but also for the large clay masses compared to the small clay masses, and -uniquely during the forming phase- for the shapes characterized by the largest diameter. Overall, the observed decreases in rotation velocity corresponded to increases in mean vessel diameter, suggesting that the potters were applying a limit on the linear velocity. Our results thus provide empirical evidence supporting the role of linear velocity as a key functional parameter in wheel-throwing. Directly relating to the potter-vessel interaction, it indicates both when and by how much the rotation velocity deceleration caused by the exertion of manual pressure forces should be compensated, as well as how to avoid the risk of velocity-induced collapse. While only preliminary, our results also suggest that large-sized ancient wheel-thrown vessels were most likely produced using low-velocity and high-inertia wheels. Future work, examining rotation velocity regulation over different types of wheels, is needed to allow definite conclusions to be drawn.
A comparative look at the use of the potter's wheel in Bronze Age Greece
Ancient Greek Technology. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Ancient Ceramic Technology, 2006
Analyses of Aegean Bronze Age pottery follow the standard dichotomy in dividing assemblages into wheelmade and handmade pots. This procedure causes two methodological problems. First, it ignores manufacturing methods that combined several techniques in the making of one vessel. And second, it assumes that all wheelmade pottery is made uniformly with the fast wheel. However, already in the 1950s did Foster draw our attention to the fact that unpivoted turntables can be used to reach rotation speeds sufficient for the making of small vessels or parts of large vessels (esp. rims) (1959a, b). Thus, this contribution intends to question our assumption of a uniform use of the potter's wheel across Minoan Crete and wishes to open up the debate to explore the great diversity of manufacturing processes employed by Bronze Age potters.
Levant, 2016
The southern Levant and northern Mesopotamia are two areas in which the potter's wheel seems to have appeared independently. New data enable us to undertake a comparison between both regions. As a result, it appears that in both regions the context of production of the first wheel-made vessels was very similar. Wheel-coiled bowls were made by craft specialists attached to some kind of elite and responding to the demand of this same elite for fine vessels. Thus the potter's wheel was not adopted to improve productivity, but to produce to strong vessels with status value. As a consequence, this technology was not transferred to more utilitarian categories of vessels, and in both regions its development followed the same distinctive saw-tooth evolutionary trajectory.
PERFORMANCES OF (AND ON) THE GREEK POTTER’S WHEELS: AN EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT
EIDOLA International Journal of Classical Art History, 2017
Considering the changing iconography of craft production and pottery making on Classical Greek pottery, we focus on the known images of potter’s wheels and their variations. The inventory of these images is substantially enriched by a series of red-figures pots and terracotta figurines found in graves in southern Italian sites, that witness a popular taste for figures of young girls performing on rotating wheels. It is argued that such wheels were endowed with portable bases, well recognizable on some ceramic images. Then we illustrate the structure and construction of a portable potter’s wheel that replicated the one visible in the famous red-figures crater of Caltagirone (Sicily), discussing its operation in terms of rotation speed, coordination among spinning and throwing, physical constraints and positive ergonomics. Eventually, we report the results of simple experiments in which a young female students attempted to replicate the posture, if not the performances, of the acrobats and musicians on revolving wheels.
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