Ceramics Before Farming

Once linked exclusively to the emergence of farming and settled village life, it is becoming increasingly clear that the origins of pottery are instead bound-up in a complex process of innovation, which extends back to the end of the last Ice Age around 17,000 years ago, to a time when hunter-gatherer societies were developing creative ways of adjusting to warmer climates and new environments. Why pottery appeared so early in prehistory – and among only some hunter-gatherers and not others – has perplexed archaeologists for several decades, and is now one of the most important research topics in World Archaeology. This recent book, co-edited with Marek Zvelebil, sheds new light on the adoption and dispersal of pottery by non-agricultural societies of prehistoric Eurasia.  Major contributions from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia make this a truly international work that brings together different theories and material for the first time (Project supported by the AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity).