Pottery has been one of the commonest, lucrative and oldest human technologies and art-forms,

although it was subordinated to agricultural activity. The history of pottery in Ghana dates back to the
period around 4,000-3,000 B.C. The pioneers of Ghanaian farming and village life of the period 2000 B.C.
to 500 B.C. were authors of decorated clay pots, houses constructed from a combination of clay and
wood. Some of the places noted for the production of pottery in Ghana are Tafo-Adompom and
Pankrono, all suburbs of Kumasi in the Ashanti region and Odumase in the Brong Ahafo region. Though,
there are other notable areas known for the production of pottery in Ghana but these few communities
are considered in this article. Due to lack of storage facilities for the early people, their valuable
ornaments such as gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings were kept the pottery. They also used them for
domestic purposes such as fetching water, the traditional priests and priestesses used them for their
rituals.

Pottery is one of the oldest human technologies and art-forms, and remains a major industry today.
Chronologies based on pottery are often essential for dating non-literate cultures and are often of help in
the dating of historic cultures as well. This affirms what Anderson (1985) explains that pottery is
everywhere and is a functional as well as artistic art form.Clay is the material from which the pottery
ware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where
such wares are made is also called a pottery (plural “potteries”). Pottery also refers to the art or craft of
the potter or the manufacture of pottery.

Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high
temperatures in a kiln which removes all the water from the clay, which induces reactions that lead to
permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape. A clay
body can be decorated before or after firing. Prior to some shaping processes, clay must be prepared.
Kneading helps to ensure an even moisture content throughout the body. Air trapped within the clay
body needs to be removed. This is called de-airing and can be accomplished manually by wedging.
Wedging can also help produce an even moisture content. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-
aired or wedged, it is shaped by a variety of techniques. After shaping it is dried and then fired.

Barnett et al (1995) explain that there are several materials that are referred to as clay. The properties of
the clays differ in: plasticity, the malleability of the body; porosity, the degree to which the fired pottery
will absorb water; and shrinkage, the degree of reduction in size of a body as water is removed. The
various clays also differ in the way in which they respond to different degrees of heat when fired in the
kiln. Each of these different clays is composed of different types and amounts of minerals that determine
the resulting pottery.

According to Ashmore et al (2000), it is common for clays and other materials to be mixed to produce
clay bodies suited to specific purposes. The two essential components of clay are Silica and Alumina
which combine to form Aluminium silicate, also known as Kaolinite. Other mineral compounds in the
clay may act as Fluxes to lower the melting point of the silica during firing.

Hand building is the earliest forming method. Wares can be constructed by hand form coils of clay,
combining flat slabs of clay, or pinching solid balls of clay or some combination of these. Parts of hand-
built vessels are often joined together with the aid of slip, an aqueous suspension of clay body and
water.

According to Efa-Gyamfi (1980), pottery has been found in ancient sites scientifically aged to around
4,000-3,000 B.C. The pioneers of Ghanaian farming and village life of the period 2000 B.C. to 500 B.C.
were authors of decorated clay pots, houses constructed from a combination of clay and wood as well as
the earliest known clay art works portraying domestic cattle, sheep, goats and dogs.