Pre-Pottery Neolithic people made finely worked stone bowls, troughs and platters from materials including limestone and greenstone. The video argues that these vessels were more sophisticated than pottery because they took longer to make, and that pottery eventually won because it was faster and easier to produce. But the early stone vessels were probably not used for cooking or storing food; they may have imitated wooden or wicker forms. Limestone can dissolve in acidic conditions, but it does not simply fall apart when wet. Pottery also coexisted with stone vessels rather than replacing them in one step. 12:14–13:22
PPN people made elaborate stone vessels, but evidence points away from cooking
TürkiyeTechnology
Key facts
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic communities made stone vessels, including limestone troughs and vessels and finely worked greenstone platters.
- The early stone vessels were probably not used for cooking or storing food and may have imitated wooden or wicker forms.
- The video argues that stone vessels were more sophisticated because they took longer to make and that pottery spread because it was quicker and easier to produce.
- Limestone can dissolve in acidic water but does not simply crumble when wet; surviving limestone vessels show that it could be used.
- Pottery and stone vessels overlapped in time, so the evidence does not support an immediate replacement.
Sources
Ancient pottery shows sophisticated prehistoric cooking methodsearth.com
Burned crusts on ancient pottery reveal that Stone Age people cooked fish together with berries, seeds, and other plants.
Leftovers in prehistoric pots let scientists peek into the kitchen of an ...eurekalert.org
Our results show how the prehistoric people who made these vessels processed different foodstuffs and mixed them together, transforming them into meals.
Episode 14: Networks and Inventions in the Pre-Pottery Neolithicprehistorypodcast.com
Stone vessels were made in slightly different shapes, and with different types of decoration, in different regions. The details of daily life do ...
How Pottery Offers Glimpses Into Ancient Foodwayssapiens.org
Archaeologists, armed with new technology and old fragments of food containers, are piecing together what humans in the past cooked and ate.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Near East, dating to c. 12,000 – c. 8,500 years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE).
Pre-Pottery Neolithic - an overviewsciencedirect.com
These first vessels, which show masterly craftsmanship, were not used for cooking or storing food, although they probably imitated wooden or wicker forms
Investigating the function of Pre-Pottery Neolithic stone ...sciencedirect.com
by L Dietrich · 2020 · Cited by 51 — Besides the large limestone troughs, it encompasses middle-sized, coarsely made limestone vessels, finely executed platters and 'greenstone' vessels. All lines ...
First Evidence of Pottery Used for Cookingscience.org
Flakes of charred material scraped from shards of ancient pots are the earliest direct evidence of pottery use for cooking, a new study ...
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