Pottery
When humans had started to express their feelings, they did this through cave paintings and tally sticks. Evolution of modern human began with the formation of small groups and associated culture. Although very primitive in nature, they started exchanging between different groups. At that time, more sophistication came in their living. Pottery came in daily use for cooking and storage purpose. Survived for thousands of years, it is the most significant archeological evidence to study the development of human being.
Earliest evidences of pottery vessels came from China (dated back to 18,000 BC), Russian far East (14,000 BC) and Japan (10,500 BC). Our ancestors started exploring and using the available resources nearby their settlements to make their lives easier. Pottery is a classical example of this. Clay was normally available and it was used to craft the vessels for storage. Two basic characteristics of clay made it useful in vessel preparation --- one, it can be molded and second, it can be hardened. When pit-firing was invented (around 29000 - 25000 BCE), the technique was used by the earliest humans to heat the vessels of clay and make the pit fired pottery.
It is somewhat debatable as when the first use of pottery started in Indian subcontinent. The earliest evidence of pottery can be found in some early settlements at Lahuradewa in Uttar Pradesh, Sothi-Siswal sites and Indus Valley Civilisation.
As the time advanced, potter's wheel got invented in Mesopotamia sometime between 6,000 and 4,000 BC. This invention revolutionized the way the potteries were made. Now-a-days more modern techniques have evolved and pottery art has spread across the world. In India, it has become a culture. You can now see different types of ceramic pottery with a glaze, painting and beautiful decorations. But credit for all this goes to that person, he or she, who never wrote his or her name on the first vessel made.
