Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- origins of agriculture - Early development
- Stone Age - South and East Asia
- history of China - 5th millennium bce
- pre-Columbian civilizations - The Initial Period
- History of Technology Timeline - 20,000 to 15,000 years ago: Neolithic Revolution
- history of the organization of work - Pottery
- pottery - Ancient Near East and Egypt
Did pottery always appear at the same time as agriculture?
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Origins of agriculture
Harvesting wheat on a farm in the grain belt near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A potash mine appears in the distant background.
It is a common misconception that the development of pottery and the origins of agriculture are universally linked. While these technologies often appear together in the archaeological record, there is no fixed, global correlation between them.1
The relationship between the two varies significantly by region:
- Delayed Appearance: In many parts of the world, including Southwest Asia and the Americas, pottery emerged long after the transition to agriculture had already begun. For example, in the Andes, agricultural practices such as the cultivation of beans and squashes were established for centuries or even millennia before the introduction of ceramics.12
- Early Appearance: In contrast, East Asia presents the opposite scenario. In Japan, for instance, pottery of the Jōmon type dates back as early as 10,500 BCE, while evidence of systematic cultivation, such as wet rice farming, did not appear until the very end of the Jōmon period.13
Because these developments were driven by distinct local needs and environmental factors, the timing of their adoption remained highly variable across different prehistoric cultures.1