Why People Are So Fascinated by Old Time Pottery

There is plenty of old time pottery around the world, both in homes and in museums. Some of it is ancient, while some old time pottery is simply handed down from a few generations back. There have always been people who are interested in pottery from days gone by. There are several reasons.

1. Family treasures. Many families have old time pottery that they keep and hand down from parent to child over many years. This may be hand-thrown flower pots, bowls, or vases. Sometimes, the old time pottery was made by someone in the family many decades ago. Keeping the item goes beyond interest. It is a tradition.

2. Earlier customs. There are many pieces of old time pottery that show how people lived in earlier times. There are heavy pottery bowls that were designed to use for rising bread. Of course, people still make bread; they just make it for pleasure rather than as a daily necessity. Old time pottery jars may have been used for earlier customs like carrying water into the house. Now that everyone has running water, they are no longer needed.

3. Artwork. Since the days of the earliest old time pottery that has been discovered, there has been an artistic sensibility to the works. The most ancient old time pottery may show depictions of a hunt or a sacred dance. More recent old time pottery has distinctive artistic designs that hark back to specific eras in which they were made.

4. Level of civilization. The old time pottery that is found by archaeologists is classified by time periods in which it was made. An intriguing part of this study is learning the level of advancement of different cultures based on the sophistication of their pottery. Studying old time pottery shows scientists just how intelligent the makers were, and how far their skills had progressed.