328 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



mark of a wild animal on a clayey soil showed him at once 

 the impermeability of clay ; its plasticity was illustrated when 

 he noticed how the impress of every finger which he placed 

 on it remained, and he realised how it could be modelled 

 into any desired shape. The clay vessels simply moulded by 

 hand in a primitive manner were soon doomed to destruction. 

 Later on he accidentally observed that any vessel which had 

 been exposed to the fire for a long time exhibited a much 

 greater hardness and durability. The first rude potsherds are 

 found in transitional localities between the palaeolithic and 

 neolithic periods, such as the cave of Mas d'Azil in France, 

 and in the kitchen-middens on the shores of the " Ostsee " in 

 Norway. 



From that time to this clay vessels have been manufactured 

 wherever clay is obtainable. Pottery has never been known to 

 the Eskimos, nor to the Northern Indians of North America ; 

 nor to the Botokudes and Kayapos, in Brazil, nor the tribes of 

 the pampas and Terra del Fuego, in South America ; nor to the 

 Veddahs in Ceylon, the inhabitants of the mainland of Australia, 

 the Maoris in New Zealand or the Polynesians. In most of 

 these cases, but not in all, the cause of this is that the soil 

 contains no suitable clay upon its surface. In all other regions 

 of the earth pottery, at first simply hand-made, and later turned 

 on a wheel, has risen from the simplest to the most elaborate 

 forms, being gradually improved, partly by individual invention 

 and partly by imitation of imported articles. Many potters 

 indeed of the present day find it very difficult to manufacture 

 on the wheel the same beautiful wide-bottomed vases which the 

 men and women of old times made with a sure eye and free 

 hand. Potteiy was made by hand in this way in mid-Europe 

 up to the period immediately preceding the Roman. At first, 

 the squat, thick-sided pots had generally a spherical shape, 

 almost like the pumpkins of Southern climes. As time went 

 on they were better shaped, and stood more firmly on even 

 bottoms (Figs. 158 and 159). Better clay, too, was used, which 

 was polished after the vase was finished, and soon became 

 ornamented with some simple design. Handles were soon 

 added, and plates, cups and pitchers were made. Finally, 

 during the Hallstatt period, richly decorated and coloured urns 



