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Saharan Pottery...
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:13 pm
by Minimalist
in the grasslands of Chad, 11,000 years ago.
http://www.nzz.ch/2007/01/19/eng/article7442480.html
Some 10,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age, the climate is thought to have fluctuated between warm and cold periods. This led to the formation of an 800:kilometre:wide band of tropical vegetation extending northwards from the Sahel region, which attracted people who slowly moved north from southern and central Africa.
Wild grasses and pearl millet started sprouting on the former desert land. But for man to be able to eat and properly digest the new plants, they had to be stored and cooked in pots.
"Man had to adapt his food and way of life by inventing pottery," said the Geneva professor.
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:53 pm
by Charlie Hatchett
The age of the sediment in which they were found suggests that the six ceramic fragments : discovered between 2002 and 2005 : are at least 11,400 years old.
Wow. Go figure. I had no idea pottery even went back as far as 10,000 B.P.
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:32 pm
by marduk
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~archaeology ... /jomon.htm
Recently however pottery has been found that dates back to 13,000 years ago, which, if you use the latest radiocarbon calibration, gives a date of 16,000 years ago. (or 14,000 BC).
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:03 pm
by Minimalist
Wow. Go figure. I had no idea pottery even went back as far as 10,000 B.P.
Kind of beats the hell out of Bishop Ussher, doesn't it? Unless in addition to everything else god created pottery.
Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:31 pm
by Beagle
That area of the world is really climate change central. That's the place to be finding the good stuff though. Plenty of H. Heiderbergensis down in there too.
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:17 pm
by stan
Here's a 12,000 year old pot from Japan.
It never occurred to me til now that you can't boil anything without
a pot!
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:22 pm
by Minimalist
I learned of Jomon pottery and culture from one of Hancock's books.
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~archaeology ... /jomon.htm
Where does the oldest pottery in the world come from?
No, not from the Near East, nor indeed from the Middle East. It comes from Japan.
It has long been known that the Jomon pottery of Japan goes back a very long way. (Jomon means Twisted cord, so this is the pottery made with twisted cord decoration.
Recently however pottery has been found that dates back to 13,000 years ago, which, if you use the latest radiocarbon calibration, gives a date of 16,000 years ago. (or 14,000 BC).
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:52 pm
by marduk
I already posted that in the third post in this thread Min
you're copying me for some reason
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:17 pm
by Beagle
http://www.physorg.com/news94314522.html
Researchers at the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing used recently acquired topographic data from satellites to reveal a now dry, ancient mega-lake in the Darfur province of northwestern Sudan. Drs. Eman Ghoneim and Farouk El-Baz made the finding while investigating Landsat images and Radarsat data. Radar waves are able to penetrate the fine-grained sand cover in the hot and dry eastern Sahara to reveal buried features.
This is a large lake, and it may have had a shoreline close to the pottery in the original post.
From Archaeologica News.
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:52 pm
by Minimalist
There are precious few water sources that humans have not found a way to exploit. Makes sense that a lake this big would show evidence of habitation.
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:05 pm
by ravenwing5910
stan wrote:
Here's a 12,000 year old pot from Japan.
It never occurred to me til now that you can't boil anything without
a pot!
Sure you can. a woven basket, or a bit of gut and some hot rocks will do the job nicely. even a large shell would work. but I would bet that a pot leaks a bit less, and makes things much easier than trying to transfer hot rocks from the fire into the basket. Not to mention an improvement in the recipe. (less grit)