Nature’s First Kiln May Have Been a Wildfire, New Research Reveals

• A new study suggests that the southern Levant may have experienced wildfires that exposed Neolithic communities to the effects of fire on clay, leading to the development of pottery. The study, led by Amos Frumkin, found two periods of intense fire and erosion, with the most intense burning occurring between 9,500 and 8,200 years ago. These periods left similar evidence, including small charcoal particles and chemical signatures of vegetation loss. The fires, occurring during the last interglacial and early Holocene, may have contributed to the formation of terra rossa clay, which was later used for pottery. The study notes that the scale and timing of the fires point toward climatic causes rather than human use of fire, though human fire use was already present.

• The study compares the earlier period of vegetation decline and clay deposition with the current period, highlighting that while the materials were available 120,000 years ago, there were no settled societies to replicate the process. This suggests that environmental conditions alone were not sufficient for pottery development, and the innovation may have emerged when these conditions intersected with a society capable of recognizing and replicating the process. Frumkin emphasizes that the hypothesis is still speculative, as current dating techniques cannot establish the exact order of events.

• The findings indicate that the natural kiln hypothesis may have allowed Neolithic communities to observe and imitate the process of fire-induced clay transformation, leading to the development of pottery. The study provides evidence that the clay used for pottery was redeposited after wildfires, suggesting that the process of fire-induced soil transformation was recognized and replicated by early human societies. Further excavations might search for fire-baked clay beneath the oldest pottery layers and test whether wildfires reached the necessary temperatures to harden clay. Finding pottery that clearly predates the major fire episode would challenge the hypothesis.

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