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Ancient Clay Fragments Reveal Early Fired Pottery

Researchers studied 46 low-fired clay fragments from a Turkish settlement dated to about 11,000 years ago.

Updated on Nov. 12, 2026 in Geology

Photograph of a single cracked, pale-ochre fired clay fragment resting in brown excavation soil under warm low sunlight, with dry grass and dust in the air.
Researchers report that 11,000-year-old fired clay fragments from Çemka Höyük in southeastern Turkey predate common pottery in Southwest Asia by several millennia. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Researchers Rana Özbal, Maria Daghmehchi, Ergül Kodaş, and Natalia Petrova report in Antiquity on 11,000-year-old fired clay fragments from Çemka Höyük in Mardin province, southeastern Turkey. The rescue-dig recovery included 46 fragments representing nine objects, eight of which the team examined in detail.

Why it matters

The fragments suggest early residents of Southwest Asia were shaping and firing clay well before pottery became common in the region around 7000 BCE. The findings add to understanding of how early communities experimented with heat-treated materials.

The 46 low-fired fragments, representing nine objects, were dated to a building level of about 9350 BCE and show firing near 600 to 700°C, based on changes in the clay's minerals. The study does not report how these objects were used in daily life.

The players

Antiquity

Antiquity is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research in archaeology and ancient history.

The details

Some fragments formed clay coatings around oval objects made of organic material, and one piece has holes that could have held a cord to tie down a lid. Two clay pieces contained animal dung, and the team reported that some objects were formed by joining slabs of clay.

Timeline

  1. People lived at Çemka Höyük from about 10,800 to 8700 BCE.

  2. The fragments came from a building level dated to around 9350 BCE.

  3. Pottery became common in the region around 7000 BCE.

Deeper Context

The fragments predate the widespread appearance of pottery in Southwest Asia around 7000 BCE by roughly 2,000 years, pushing back the timeline of early clay technology. They place early experimentation with fired clay in the period when some of the region's first villages were forming.

Findings like these help archaeologists understand how early communities worked with materials such as clay, informing how future excavations interpret small fragments. The research shows that technical knowledge about heat and materials developed long before the emergence of standardized pottery.

The takeaway

Small fragments can reveal large gaps in what is known about early human technology. Careful analysis of excavated material continues to push back the timeline of innovations like fired clay.

Further reading

Explore more research in our Geology section.