The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia

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 focusing 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 has 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 cal. BC.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 chronological divide. For the first time, The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia examines in detail the when, where, how and why of the arrival of the first pottery 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.

Table of Contents:
PREFACE   Chapter 1 The significance of Research on the Emergence of Pottery in West Asia Akira Tsuneki   Chapter 2 The Earliest Pottery of West Asia: Questions Concerning Causes and Consequences Marie Le Mière   Chapter 3 The Initial Pottery Neolithic at Tell Sabi Abyad, Northern Syria Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse   Chapter 4 Akarҫay Tepe and Tell Halula in the Context of the Earlies Production of Ceramics in West Asia Walter Cruells, Josep M. Faura and Miquel Molist   Chapter 5 The Oldest Neolithic Pottery from Tell Seker al-Aheimar, Upper Khabur, Northeastern Syria Yoshihiro Nishiaki and Maria le Mière   Chapter 6 The Earliest Pottery of Salat Camii Yani Yutaka Miyake   Chapter 7 The Emergence of Pottery in the Nothern Levant: A Recent View from Tell el-Kerkh Takahiro Odaka   Chapter 8 The Early Pottery from Shir, Northern Levant Olivier P. Nieuwenhuyse   Chapter 9 Yumuktepe Early Ceramic Productions: Dark versus Light Coloured Wares and the Construction of Social Identity Francesca Balossi Restelli   Chapter 10 Merging Clay and Fire: Earliest Evidence from the Zagros Mountains Reinhard Bernbeck   Chapter 11 The Emergence of Pottery in Northeast Iran: The Case Study of Tappeh Sang-e Chakhmaq Akira Tsuneki   Chapter 12 Absolute Dating and the Early Pottery of South-west Asia Stuart Campbell   Chapter 13 The Beginning of Pottery Technology in Japan: The Dating and Function of Incipient Jomon Pottery Yasuhiro Taniguchi   Chapter 14 Synthesis: The Emergence of Pottery in West Asia Olivier P. Niuwenhuyse and Stuart Campbell  

About the Author :
Olivier Nieuwenhuyse is a Dutch archaeologist affiliated with Leiden University, which has a long tradition of archaeological prehistoric research in the ancient Near East. He has conducted fieldwork in Lebanon, Turkey and Syria, and is currently active in northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan). He has published extensively, including several monographs. The prehistoric ceramic traditions of the Middle East have his special attention. He is is also active in international efforts to safeguard endangered archaeological heritage in Syria and Iraq.

Review :
The conference and subsequent book are indeed invaluable in their contribution to their re-understanding of both the traditional dual Aceramic/Ceramic chronological construction of the Neolithic in West Asia, as well as to our understanding of the reasons for and uses of the earliest pottery.