Abstract

May the age and the cognitive background of a novice painter be inferred from graphic performance on a prehistoric pot? An archaeologist, a conservator and a developmental age psychologist-psychotherapist took the challenge and present the technical biography of a late Neolithic/early Chalcolithic vessel from Turkey. Considering the teaching of the potter's craft as an interactive event, competence gaps and graphic transformations spread light on the technical training in play and the age of the novice. The information may help building new models on the changing organization of ceramic crafts in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities of the Ancient near East and Middle Asia.