Did wildfires help spark the invention of pottery?
A new study suggests that Neolithic communities in the Levant may have discovered pottery by observing clay hardened by intense wildfires. Researchers propose the 'natural kiln hypothesis' to explain how environmental instability led to this technological breakthrough.
Why it matters
This research provides a new perspective on how ancient human innovation was driven by environmental adaptation and natural phenomena.
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Add as preferred source Tens of meters in thickness at Nahal Arava, in the center of the southern Dead Sea basin )31.263003N, 35.395929E(, it comprises mainly lacustrine clastics reaching. The white aprons are redeposited salt minerals leached from Dead Sea salt layers. Note persons on top, for scale. The Ze'elim Formation represents the thick deposits at base level sediment traps. Credit: Amos Frumkin A new study suggests that a period of intense fires and landscape upheaval in the ancient southern Levant may have helped create the conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how fire could transform clay.
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