A History Of The World In A 100 Objects: No. 10

A History Of The World In A 100 Objects
Number 10
Jomon Pot
Clay vessel, found in Japan
5000 BC

People thought that pottery was created when Humans began to settle & create societies but there is now evidence of pottery being made as long ago 16,000 years ago in hunter gatherer Africa but this item from 7,000 years ago is the first evidence of a pot. It comes from Japan & is about 6 inches high. It has a distictive pattern on the outside that are diagonal basket like markings and in Japanese it's Jomon which has now come to be the name for the people who lived in Japan at that time.
The Jomon more than most other cultures were fishers rather than farmers & they relied on fish as their main source of food, they also had easy access to nut & seeds from plants & took a lot longer to become farmers than other cultures but this pot repressents a cultural advance because before it's creation people would have had to eat what they grew pretty much straight away or buried it to preserve it but these pots gave the Jomon a handy way of transporting their produce & storing it.
Pottery was made in Japan for a long time before in crossed over into other cultures & Japan was able to flourish largely independantly of the rest of the world thanks to their abundant fish stock, naturally occuring crops & these pots.
But the striking thing about this pot above all else is that it was lacquered with gold leaf on the inside & this like our last two objects shows the relevance that cultures place on their food sources.
It shows that the Jomon were not only creative, industrious, clever types but also respected the natural gift that the sea & the land gave them enough to make their everyday utensils pretty.