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Classical Greek and Roman: The Greeks from about 800 BC onward produced the classical Black figured ware and Red figured ware using the potter's wheel, colored slips for decoration. To produce the shiny Black surfaces a complex firing technique involving alternating cycles of reduction and oxidation were used to reduce iron to Black iron. This work was extremely refined and detailed - very smooth surfaces with fine lines painted with single haired brushes were common. Much of this work is found in Italy when it was imported during the Roman empire.
   
Greek Hydra: 533 B.C. Earthenware with slip decoration. Courtesy of IMA Greek Kylex: 520 B.C. Earthenware with slip decoration. Courtesy of IMA

Africa: The African continent has a complicated history that is probably the least understood of the worlds peoples. This is partly because the many African cultures tended to not make durable records of their activities. Because of it's durability, much of what we do know of ancient African culture comes from their ceramics. The Nok people living in what is now Northern Nigeria made iron tools in 400 BC. fragments of life size clay figures have been found in the same area dating to about 500 AD. Little is known about the culture except that it was apparently centered around a king or chief whose ancestors were worshipped. Most of what we know about these ancient cultures are of those that developed royal courts that commissioned art. Ceramics were also produced for ceremonial occasions - Male and female initiation to adulthood; Fertility, harvest.
   
Africa: Zulu people (South Africa) early 20th century: earthenware. Courtesy of IMA Africa: Kuba people (Angola) wine cup: earthenware: early 20th century. Courtesy of IMA

Utilitarian ceramics were regarded as art as well simple containers and incorporated traditions of decoration and form. Until modern times, all African ceramics were hand built. the potters wheel was never used. Similarly, Africa never developed glazes or kilns - With a few variations, firing was done in open fires on the ground. In almost all African cultures pottery making tasks were strictly governed by gender taboos. Every household had a potter (a women) who made the containers for cooking and storing food. Females who had not passed puberty were forbidden to dig clay. In some cultures the roles were reversed with only men allowed to make pots.

The British potter Michael Cardew, introduced the European techniques of Stoneware, the potters wheel, glazes and modern kilns During the 1960s. Many of the workshops he started are still in operation.

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