EARLY CLAY TECHNOLOGIES: STUDIES IN EARLY NEOLITHIC CLAY USAGE FROM THE CENTRAL ZAGROS AMY RICHARDSON 1 ABSTRACT The advent of clay usage for portable material culture in the Central Zagros is first ev- idenced by small, unfired tokens from the 10 th millennium BC. Over the course of the next three millennia, the production of clay objects proliferated, permeating symbolic and functional realms. The malleability of clay, the ready availability of the resource and its relative durability opened up the possibility for utilisation by all, with little skill or training, to craft functional and symbolic objects with minimal investment. This paper examines the role of clay usage through case studies in the Central Zagros and outlines potential future directions for the study of clay in the Neolithic. INTRODUCTION Early Neolithic clay technologies have received attention for the past four decades and more. Schmandt-Besserat’s work highlighted the fundamental role this material played in the development of the Neolithic koiné and increasingly sedentary communities (Schmandt-Besserat 1974; 1977; see also Gheorghiu 2009). As new excavations take interdisciplinary approaches, this research aims to further integrate changing patterns of clay resource usage with broader patterns of material engagement, early sedentism and domestication. Early Neolithic sites across the Central Zagros have provided evidence for the use of clay from the 10 th millennium BC onward, for both small-scale portable material cul- ture and for architectural purposes, contemporary with the later phases of the so-called ‘broad-spectrum revolution’ (Zeder 2009). Alongside lithics, stone, bone and more perishable materials, such as wood and leather, clay was incorporated into a repertoire of functional and decorated tools. Clay became one of the key materials through which non-functional abstract concepts were expressed, in the form of tokens and figurines. The selection of clay for a wide variety of purposes is readily understandable – for its availability, versatility and relative durability, in combination with the low levels of skill required to manipulate and ‘create’ clay objects. It was an accessible resource, open to those without extensive skill and, prior to the advent of firing practices, both quick and easy to reach a final ‘product’. 1 University of Reading