ANCIENT POTTERY AND TAXATION...

 Ancient Jar with Collared Rim

Pottery has been found at Ur, home city of Abraham and Sarah, below the clay level called the Flood deposit. Immediately above this level, dating from about 3,000BC, wheel- made decorated pottery was found.

Earthenware pottery was made in Jericho as early as 4500BC.

Clay is the basic material of pottery. In its natural state it can be easily moulded, and when it is fired it hardens, becoming virtually indestructible - though not shatter-proof.

Clay, of course, was in abundance in the Middle East. In some areas, like Jericho, it was the only material available for building houses - there was no stone in the area.

The objects made from clay were usually useful in some way - for holding liquids, or as plates or bowls for food. They were used at all levels of society, with a rich variety of decoration.

TAXATION IS INVENTED

Oddly enough, pottery was vital for the development of the organized city-state. Foodstuffs could only be collected in quantity if there was a way of storing the food, and large pottery containers provided this.

So rulers of tribes, city-states and eventually nations were able to collect food from the lower orders and store it - which was of course the beginning of the taxation system...

 Large storage jar, Qumran, 1st century AD