been found up to 19,000 years old, it was not until about 10,000 years later that regular pottery became common. An early people that spread across much of Europe is named after its use of pottery: the Corded Ware culture. These early Indo-European peoples decorated their pottery by wrapping it with rope while it was still wet. When the ceramics were fired, the rope burned off but left a decorative pattern of complex grooves on the surface.

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