Dr. Than Tun - History of Myant Mar-o and 8 supplementary documents

History of Burmese pottery (1)

(This paper was read at the Kanthasaeng Lei annual meeting on September 10, 1972, chaired by U Wun.)

If a pot is not fired, it cannot hold water. The person who invented it to hold water is human. Therefore, it is necessary to study as much as possible the situation in Myanmar and Southeast Asia to find out when people first created pots.

Archaeological excavations in West Asia and neighboring countries have revealed when pottery was first used in their regions. It was previously thought that pottery appeared after the Neolithic period. Now, there are places where pottery was used even before the advent of agriculture. At Jericho, there were no pots at all in the early days of food production. The earliest use of pottery in those places is about 8800 BC. The pottery wheel is not earlier than 5250 BC. Glazed pottery does not appear until about 2900 BC. These dates are for West Asia. Recent excavations in Southeast Asia have shown a similar pattern.

The development of the stage of food hunting to the stage of food production is not the same in West Asia and Southeast Asia. Therefore, some scholars who study Southeast Asia alone believe that the terms Old Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, and New Stone Age should not be used to describe the development of West Asian society. They present a new picture of the development of Southeast Asia, adding new names at the same time. The period from ancient times to 42,000 years ago is called the Lithic Stone Age. At that time, only simple stone tools were made and used.

Next, the period from 42,000 to 22,000 years ago is called the Lignic Period. During this time, people used only wooden tools. Among the wooden tools, there were also many bamboo tools.

Then, from 22,000 to 10,000 BC, we call the Crystallitic period. This is because people in Southeast Asia lost contact with each other and developed their own distinct cultures and traditions. During this period, starting around 22,000 BC, they began to select and plant plants that would grow in their own areas. They also domesticated animals that were easy to raise. In addition to wooden weapons, they also used moderately polished stone weapons. By 15,000 BC, pottery was being made and used. By 12,000 BC, agriculture was widespread.

After the sub-regional period, the Extensional period began. From 10,000 to 2000 years ago, people were able to come out of their caves. The harsh climates that had been there before gradually became more moderate and became the climate of today. Therefore, there was no need for caves anymore.

Although pottery making was practiced 15,000 years ago, the art of pottery with flower designs only appeared around 9,000 years ago. The reason it took so long to move from one level to the next is that

This is because a place like Myanmar does not have a pot. The forests of Myanmar are full of large bamboos. The bamboo basket is also easy to use. Bamboo baskets and pots are used for both carrying water and storing water. That is why even before the cultivation of rice about 8,000 years ago, if you want to cook rice, you can think of it as bamboo baskets. Even today, if you cook sticky rice, you can use bamboo baskets.

They still use it. Copper pots were first used about 7,600 years ago. But because this metal was not widely available, copper pots were not widely used. They continued to use earthenware until the advent of the Dan pot.

In all of Southeast Asia, during the period of expansion that we are talking about, there were no very large cities. There were no very powerful emperors. There were no large and strong fortresses anywhere from 4,000 to 3,000 years ago. That's

Because of this, there were no major military conflicts in Southeast Asia at that time.

At the beginning of the Christian era, the period of Conflicting Empires emerged. Politically, India, China, and some European countries invaded Southeast Asia. Their customs also invaded. Therefore, this period is called the Conflicting Empires. At that time, the art of pottery glazing, as a foreign art, appeared in Myanmar. In fact, it was not until the 11th century AD that pottery was widely used in Myanmar. A word of caution must be said here. The above-mentioned era divisions and the dates of the beginning of the art are only provisional decisions.

If we think about why pots were used, we can figure out when pots were first used. When the first tools for producing goods became better, there was more production and there was more to store. Because of the system of exploitation of people, there was a surplus of goods. That person tried to store them.

The second consideration is that people have come down from their mountain caves to the plains because the weather is not so bad. When they were in the mountains

When carrying water, bamboo poles are the best, but since the villages were built on the riverbanks, they were easy to break, so they wanted to use clay pots. Third, it can be said that since very early on, we can find very beautiful pots, so we can say that there was a profession called potter. It can only be said that there were people who specialized in making pots. Finally, I would like to point out that these potters lived in the river basins where there was good clay. Villages were built on the riverbanks. It is estimated that this was 9,000 years ago.

You can't just dry the pot in the sun and add water. You can add water when you bake it at 500 degrees Celsius. But even if you heat it to 1150 degrees Celsius, it will still leak a little. Only after glazing can you get a good amount of water. In West Asia, glazing has been practiced for 2900 years.

People don't glaze their drinking water pots. I'm very happy if the drinking water pot is wet outside and drops of water fall down. I think the water is cooler. I also fill it up once a day and use it, so I don't mind if it leaks. If you're storing oil or salting vegetables, you can't tolerate this kind of leakage. You have to use only glazed pots. Therefore, it is important to know when the art of glazing began in Myanmar. This art was used very late. As I said earlier, the art of glazing appeared in the 11th century AD.

The archaeological department has been able to excavate the pottery, which is over 2,000 years old, and has been studying it. It is possible to estimate this age range by finding it together with finely ground stone tools.

The excavation site is around the Taungthaman Inhar, Aung Tsikpa Monastery and Maha Gandharon Monastery in Amarapura. February 1971