Ceramics A Stone Ago To Space Age

Demonstrates the way in which the discovery, application, and adaptation of materials has shaped the course of human history and the routines of our daily existence.

A long-overdue advancement in ceramic studies, this volume 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. Researchers and scholars studying the origins and dispersal of pottery, the prehistoric peoples or Eurasia, and flow of ancient technologies will all benefit from this book.

This fundamental study offers a reconstruction of the social world in which pottery was manufactured, distributed and used in ancient Palestine. Part I concludes that ceramic wares in the Bronze and Iron Ages were mass-produced for commercial sale by small workshops, probably family owned and operated. The technological level was high, with potters' wheels and permanent kilns being used. Part II argues that ceramic styles were rapidly spread throughout Palestine, primarily by itinerant merchants who sold ordinary household wares over great distances.

The third publication resulting from the Argolid Exploration Project, this volume records the Prehistoric and Early Iron Age pottery and the lithic artefacts found at over 328 archaeological sites. The analysis of so many artefacts from such a wide area has enabled the identification of local production and stylistic features of the pottery, thus charting the patterns of trade and exchange within the region and with other regions. A chronological sequence has also been established for both the ceramic and lithic finds. The book discusses the dominant aspects of each period and catalogues the material.

Most people would be surprised at how ceramics are used, from creating cellular phones, radio, television, and lasers to its role in medicine for cancer treatments and restoring hearing. The Magic of Ceramics introduces the nontechnical reader to the many exciting applications of ceramics, describing how ceramic material functions, while teaching key scientific concepts like atomic structure, color, and the electromagnetic spectrum. With many illustrations from corporations on the ways in which ceramics make advanced products possible, the Second Edition also addresses the newest areas in ceramics, such as nanotechnology.

Pottery making is one of the oldest and most widespread of human activities, with a history that can be traced back to the Stone Age. Stylistic and technical changes over time reveal a great deal about the societies in which the pottery was made, so that clay vessels serve as essential cultural and dating indicators, as well as objects of individual skill and creativity. This lavishly illustrated and comprehensive account begins with the earliest civilizations of the Near East and Middle East and follows the production of pottery chronologically around the globe, from the Mediterranean and the Orient to the Islamic world and ancient America, from neolithic Britain to the factories of Wedgwood and de Morgan, from contemporary Africa and India to Scandinavia and Australasia. The final chapters analyze the development of ceramics as a medium of personal expression by artists and studio potters during the twentieth century. This is the fourth edition of a work that has been deemed a classic since its first publication in 1972 and, for this new edition, has been completely revised, expanded, and redesigned, with new illustrations throughout. The illustrations are drawn from museums, collectors, and practicing potters across the word and offer representative examples of the major styles, materials, and forms of all periods, allowing us to make comparisons and see relationships between the works of potters who may be widely separated in space and time.