Wildfires may have inspired ancient pottery inventions

Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem proposes that intense wildfires in the southern Levant created conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how to make pottery.

Thousands of years ago, fires and erosion stripped hillsides and deposited clay-rich soil in valleys across the region, including areas in present-day Israel and Jordan. Frumkin suggests that people observed how natural fires hardened this clay, inspiring them to intentionally fire it and create ceramic objects.

He compared two periods of environmental instability, one from 129,000 to 116,000 years ago and another from 11,000 to 7,000 years ago, finding similar patterns of fire and erosion. However, pottery only emerged during the later period, indicating that environmental factors alone weren’t enough for the invention. Frumkin believes that a settled agricultural society with the right cognitive abilities was also necessary to recognize and utilize the opportunity.

Earlier research confirms that Yarmukian pottery found in the Jordan Valley was made from local terra rossa clay, the same clay that accumulated after erosion. Frumkin acknowledges that his “natural kiln hypothesis” needs further testing, but argues that environmental disruption can sometimes lead to unexpected technological advancements. Archaeological digs searching for naturally baked clay beneath early pottery layers, and experiments testing clay heating during wildfires, could prove or disprove his theory.