Pottery Decorations from Its Beginning in the Neolithic Period to the End of the Early Bronze Age III in Jordan (Altertumskunde Des Vorderen Orients, 14)

The primary aims of this study are to identify and classify the types of pottery decoration from the Pottery Neolithic Period to the end of the Early Bronze Age III, to outline the decoration pattern trends in each period, and to determine whether there are any common features between these patterns in the different ages. The study mainly concentrates on the excavated sites in Jordan, covering different geographical regions within this area. The study indicates the utensils used in daily life as well as artistic objects of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period A, B and C and demonstrates their role in the invention of pottery at the end of the late sixth millennium. This study shows that pottery manufacture was not introduced by newcomers as suggested by several scholars but it comes as the result of long experimentation with clay, white ware and other daily utensils used in the previous period. The general features and especially the artistic characteristics of each period of study are discussed and explained. This serves as a preamble to the study of pottery decoration and shows how much pottery manufacture was developed compared to other aspects of the fine arts.