The document discusses Neolithic Era pottery and provides instructions for making a basic pinch pot. During the Neolithic Era from 10,200 to 4,500 BC, early humans developed farming, animal husbandry, cave paintings, and decorative clay pottery. The instructions show how to hand build a simple pinch pot in 6 steps: 1) roll clay into a ball, 2) pinch a hole through the center, 3) widen the hole by pinching, 4) smooth and thin the walls, 5) optionally add a tripod base, and 6) decorate with textures.

1. Pinch Pots
Neolithic Era Pottery

2. Neolithic Era
The Birth of Art
• Neos (New) Lithos (Stone) =
New Stone Age
• 10,200 BC to 4,500 BC
• Farming
• Animal Husbandry
• paintings
Storytelling with cave
• Decorative clay pottery

3. Why is Farming
Important?
• Allows for a stable food source
• Staying in the same place
• Time to relax and communicate
• Feeling more secure and happy

4. Cave Paintings

5. Neolithic Pottery
What the pottery might
have looked like:
Neolithic Pottery Tools

6. Neolithic Pottery Forms

7. Neolithic Pottery Forms

8. Neolithic Pottery Decoration

9. Neolithic Pottery Seals

10. Using TEXTURE

11. Symbols of Importance
Dawenkou People, China

12. Parts of a Pot
Mouth Lip
Neck
Shoulder
Belly
Foot
Each part can change quite
a lot! This pot has THREE feet,
called a tripod.

13. Making a Pinch Pot

14. Step 1
Make a smooth ball of clay.

15. Step 2
Gently stick your thumb halfway
through the ball of clay.

16. Step 3
Pinching evenly with your fingers and with
your thumb in the hole, press and rotate to
widen the hole.

17. Step 4
When your pinch pot has strong, even
walls, smooth the surface and the lip with a
drop or two of water.

18. Step 5
You can add three small balls of clay to the
foot to create a tripod base. Score and slip
each surface to make them stick together!
Score: making the surface of
your clay rough with criss-cross
scratches
Slip: brushing water or watery
clay over the scored areas to
help pieces of clay stick
together.

19. Step 6
Press in textures to decorate your pot.
You can use anything with
an interesting surface as a
clay stamp:
rope, jewelry, tiles, seashells,
fingernails, rubber stamps,
baskets, fabric