Page 12 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

(Above) The stone blocks in Roman-built Hadrian’s Wall, England, are held together with the mortar that the Romans developed. It is still there 2,000 years later.
(Below) Roman pot with coriander seeds. Note dimples of sand grains that were embedded to make an abrasive surface for grinding.
Clay can be shaped and a decoration put on to its surface before it is fired. Thus it provides
an easy way for many societies to display and keep examples of their artistic talents. As a result, hardly a pot or plate was made that did not have some form of decoration. This was, incidentally, invaluable for later archaeologists trying to figure out the age of the ceramics (and thus of the societies) whose remains (artifacts) they found.
Ceramics can be used not just to make things in themselves, but to help make other things of other materials. For example, by making an indentation, or mould, in packed sand, molten liquid can be poured in which, on setting, will take the shape of the moulded sand. This was one of the first things that people did when the metal age began with the use of bronze some 5,000 years ago.
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