Local Traditions, Common Constraints: Comparing the Earliest Painted Pottery Production in Northeast and Southwest Asia

Michela Spataro

Despite the much longer prehistory of pottery production in northeast Asia, polychrome painted pottery appeared somewhat earlier in Mesopotamia (by 6000 BC) than in China (after 5000 BC). In this presentation, I will compare the chaînes opératoires of Hassuna and Halaf painted pottery in northern Mesopotamia with those of Yangshao and Majiayao pottery from northern China, based on thin-section petrography and SEM-EDX microstructural and compositional imaging of sherds from three sites in each region. In both settings, similar clays were used to make the pottery fabrics of painted and unpainted pottery, including coarse wares, which were often sand-tempered; levigation was used to remove coarser particles from the clays used to make fine wares. Paints were made by mixing mineral pigments (manganese and iron oxides) into a levigated clay slip, which was applied to the polished unfired pot, before firing. These pigments are naturally available in both regions. Firing temperatures were relatively low to moderate (850-900°C) in both settings. As these traditions developed independently, the numerous similarities in production technology invite discussion of the social forces shaping craft practice, including incipient inequality, reflected in demand for labour-intensive painted pottery as a marker of social differentiation.