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The art of pottery has been practiced by our ancestors in North Africa for thousands of years, and is still very much alive today. The first North Africans were lucky to live in a region that was particularly rich in clay deposits, and they made ceramic pots and jars for cooking and agriculture. Throughout the centuries, their technical skills were refined, to produce always more sophisticated objects. Today, those creations are at the heart of our North African cultural heritage.
Pottery seems to have appeared in Africa earlier than in any other world region except China. The oldest ceramics found on the African continent, in the Sahel region, especially Ounjougou, modern-day Mali, are about 12000 years old. From there, pottery spread into the Sahara, then North of the Sahara, about 8000 years ago. The first painted ceramics appeared 8000 years ago in Egypt. The Neolithic “cardium pottery” civilisation, which extended from Southern Italy to Spain and the North African coasts about 5000 years ago, was characterized by its use of seashells to imprint shapes on the clay.
Pottery later saw a strong development in the Kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania. This is also the time when the first tajine, a ceramic cooking dish that is typical in our region, appeared.
During the Roman era, North Africa, especially modern-day Tunisia, was the major ceramic producer in the Roman Empire. Roman African potters produced cooking pots, vases and amphorae, and exported them across the Empire. Pottery definitely contributed to North Africa becoming one of the richest regions of the Roman world.
Next to cooking tools, another product was in high demand: oil lamps, at the time the most common means of lighting. North Africa, with both its many olive plantations and abundant clay deposits, was in an ideal position to meet this need. North African oil lamps quickly became more popular than the previously valued Greek lamps.
Potters started using molds during the 1st century AD, a development that enabled them to produce a much larger diversity of shapes and decorative patterns. The upper circle (discus) was usually ornamented with mythological scenes or natural landscapes, while the outside border was engraved with flowers and animals. After the arrival of Christianity, lamps with crosses and biblical scenes also became very common.
The discovery of a new type of clay, African red slip ware, by the end of the 1st Century AD, revolutionized pottery. The main characteristics of this ceramic are its granular texture and its thick, red-orange slip. African red slip ware products were often fully slipped on the inside, but only partly on the outside.
African red slip ware products are found all around the Mediterranean basin, starting in the 3rd Century. They were very popular for their high quality and refinement. Around the 5th Century, potters started giving their creations much more complex forms.
The North African pottery tradition continued throughout the centuries, becoming a true way of life, amazingly rich and and diverse. Some towns, like Safi, Morocco, are especially famous for their pottery. Until today, our potters’ original and colorful still fascinate North Africans and foreign tourists alike.
