British Pottery: The First 3000 Years: Ceramic Art in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

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Alex Gibson

British Pottery

The First 3000 Years: Ceramic Art in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

Alex Gibson

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Paperback

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English

Casemate Publishers
14 October 2024

Ceramic arts, pottery, glass; British & Irish history; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Prehistoric archaeology

Pottery was at the heart of the 'Neolithic package' appearing in Britain with the first farmers around 4000 BC. It arrived as a mature technology and was essential to the new, largely sedentary, lifestyle and economy. It transformed storage and cooking practices, and the earliest ceramics seem to have been essential equipment in the new practice of dairying. The pottery changed over time and, as a result, ceramics have been fundamental to the construction of relative chronologies since the early days of modern archaeology. Even with the development of absolute dating techniques, the role of pottery as a dating tool has not diminished but instead has become refined and more accurate. But pottery is not just a tool to dating the past it also represents a facet of prehistoric art and expression. Starting simply, ceramics became arguably the main medium for display with designs often of great complexity. Simple techniques, motifs and panels are combined to create highly decorated vessels often of great individuality. The use of inlays, pastes and slips added contrasting colors to these vibrant designs. By the end of the Neolithic, ceramics became one of the major grave goods of British Prehistory, acting as accompaniments to those that warranted formal burial whether by inhumation or cremation. This practice continued throughout the Early Bronze Age to the extents that, lacking contemporary domestic sites, most of the corpora of Early Bronze Age ceramics are largely sepulchral in context. As we increasingly realize that burial rituals may have been varied and complex, so the roles of these ceramics are becoming increasingly questioned. This book traces the 3000 years of ceramic use and development in Britain, charting the changing forms and decorative techniques and the differing and changing roles that pottery played within its contemporary society.

AUTHOR: Alex Gibson has specialised in the study of ceramics for over 40 years and has published books and specialist reports on the topic. He has been Chairman of the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group and President of the Prehistoric Society and was the winner of the 2022 British Academy Grahame Clark medal for Prehistoric Archaeology. He lectured in Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology at Bradford until his retirement in 2018.

70 b/w illustrations

By: Alex Gibson
Imprint: Casemate Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9798888570715
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 14 October 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements Introduction 1. All fired up: Ceramic technology 2. The first 500 years: 4000–3500 BC: The arrival of pottery 3. First Impressions: 3500–3000 BC: The Middle Neolithic 4. In the Groove: 3000–2500 BC: The Later Neolithic 5. European (Re)Union: 2500–1800 BC: Beakers of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 6. Neolithic renaissance? 2000–1500 BC: The Early Bronze Age 7. Regionality and Decline: 2000–1000 BC: The Early and Middle Bronze Age 8. Postscript Bibliography

Alex Gibson has specialised in the study of ceramics for over 40 years and has published books and specialist reports on the topic. He has been Chairman of the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group and President of the Prehistoric Society and was the winner of the 2022 British Academy Grahame Clark medal for Prehistoric Archaeology. He lectured in Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology at Bradford until his retirement in 2018.

Reviews for British Pottery: The First 3000 Years: Ceramic Art in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age

""This is the latest in a series of accessible and well-illustrated books by the author on the development of British Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery... Gibson provides the perfect introduction to prehistoric ceramics.""-- ""Current Archaeology""