MAN . FROM THE PARTHESE ‘PAS? 
in while the clay was still soft. Later on greatly elabo- 
rated shapes appeared, sometimes with ornamental designs 
in clay, incised, molded, or stuck on the outside, some- 
times with smoothed or burnished surfaces. In certain 
areas, both of the Old and the New World, various de- 
signs, usually if not always of magical meaning, were 
painted on. Then vessels, in a 
few countries, were coated with 
glaze. The glazed earthenware 
dug out of old Chinese tombs, 
dating back to about the begin- 
ning of the Christian Era, often 
proves to have acquired wonder- 
ful iridescent hues much _ ad- 
mired by collectors. True porce- 
lain, the highest development of 
the potter’s art, originated in 
China, where it was brought 
to perfection only during the past 
thousand years or so. 
The use of bronze gave such life 
to trade as it had never known 
before. It increased commerce 
and the intermingling of peoples 
directly and indirectly. By its 
contribution to the rise in the 
Fioh atay Male aestueeret standards of living it helped in- 
t Age. : : 
NSLS Keeeee eR spire the demand for new luxuries, 
to its helve. From Mac- which led enterprising and ener- 
aac acnieey getic peoples to branch out in all 
directions, trading, conquering, plundering, destroying. 
Homer tells us, for example, how the Bronze Age Greeks 
overthrew and burned the city of Troy. The demand for 
tin, essential to the manufacture of bronze, led to the 
establishment of peaceful trade relations with distant 
peoples. Amber, the fossil resin found especially around 
the Baltic Sea, held a prominent place in the luxury trade. 
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