Pottery was made and used throughout the ancient world. Special wheels for fashioning pottery came into use at an early period, and were used throughout Palestine and neighboring areas. The Hebrew word designating a potter’s wheel, ʾobnāyim, occurs only once in the OT (Jer 18:3). The word’s literal meaning, “pair of stones,” is indicative of the configuration of the device itself.

From the MB I period (ca. 2000 B.C.) onward, pottery in Palestine was generally “thrown” on a fast wheel; i.e., it was made on a wheel spinning fast enough so that the centrifugal force formed the vessel, with the potter merely guiding the clay with his hands to attain the desired shape. Prior to the MB I period, pottery vessels were formed on a simple tournette. The Hebrew name for the potter’s wheel may derive from the fact that the earliest potter’s wheel, the tournette,

Pottery was made and used throughout the ancient world. Special wheels for fashioning pottery came into use at an early period, and were used throughout Palestine and neighboring areas. The Hebrew word designating a potter’s wheel, ʾobnāyim, occurs only once in the OT (Jer 18:3). The word’s literal meaning, “pair of stones,” is indicative of the configuration of the device itself.

From the MB I period (ca. 2000 B.C.) onward, pottery in Palestine was generally “thrown” on a fast wheel; i.e., it was made on a wheel spinning fast enough so that the centrifugal force formed the vessel, with the potter merely guiding the clay with his hands to attain the desired shape. Prior to the MB I period, pottery vessels were formed on a simple tournette.