Egyptian amphora, c.2500BC
This amphora was once used for storing liquids. There are straw marks on its outside from when it was made. They were made with pointed bases and stored by standing them in sand.
The first pots were made by smoothing layers of clay together. Potters learned to make this process easier by using a wheel. This Egyptian amphora was made on a potterâs wheel. This involves throwing clay onto a spinning wheel and shaping it with your hands.
This amphora is a reddish colour that is very common on Egyptian pottery. This is because of the reddish clay found near the River Nile. Many Egyptian pots that have survived were placed in graves, containing foods as offerings for the after-life.
When a coil pot is made up by hand it is impossible to make it perfectly round. The solution to this problem was the potter's wheel. It is a crucial invention in the history of ceramics. The potterâs wheel probably developed gradually from a platform on which the potter turns the pot before shaping another side.
The potterâs wheel is thought to have been invented at the same time as the normal wheel. This was 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Egyptians then used this technique for thousands of years.
The technique was at first just a faster method of coiling. Village potters still use this method in some parts of the world. The earliest turntables were probably not very free-turning. Improvements increased the speed and power of the wheel. Eventually it become possible for a potter's wheel to be used for "throwing" a pot.
