When was pottery invented?

The invention of pottery is closely related to people's knowledge of the use of fire. The land or soil baked by the fire became hard and stereotyped because it fell into the fire, which may prompt the primitive ancestors to consciously use the soil to make their own utensils. Therefore, in a general sense, pottery making may have been discovered and invented by primitive ancestors in different regions in their production and life practice, and it does not necessarily need to be taught and taught by people from other places. Peiligang culture in the early Neolithic period in the Yellow River valley of China, pottery in the middle of magnetic mountain culture and Hemudu culture in the early Neolithic period in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are obviously different in shape, utensils, crafts and decoration, and they all happen independently. ?

The process of making pottery is very complicated. When making pottery, it is necessary to collect some special clay, chemically treat the clay and add special materials. The treated clay is molded by machine or kneaded by hand into various shapes, then heated in a high-temperature furnace until it is shaped, and finally glazed. So a piece of pottery is finished.

The earliest pottery found in China was in the patriarchal clan system of primitive society 6000 years ago, when the varieties were extremely rich, indicating that the pottery industry at that time had reached a fairly high level.

But when was pottery invented? Who is the inventor? This issue has been controversial in academic circles. There are mainly the following statements:

The first view is that the earliest pottery was made by Shennong, about 3000 BC. Confucius' Book of Yizhou records that Shennong cultivated the fields with pottery. Of course, people are still exploring whether Shennong really exists, but it is true that the ancients used pottery as a farming tool.

The second point of view is suiren's pottery making. It is said that it was Suiren who invented the note of drilling wood for fire and knotting rope. It is also doubtful whether there is a man named Suiren, but this statement may be true when pottery was invented during the period of drilling wood for fire and knotting ropes.

The third theory is that Yu Shun invented pottery. It seems more credible that Yu Shun made pottery by the river in the history books.

In addition, many scholars pointed out that pottery was not invented by a specific person, but was the product of gradual improvement by countless ancestors in production practice.