Although pottery was developed as a useful way for storing and processing food, its surface was ideal for painting pleasing colours and shapes that may have held symbolic meanings. Forms of pottery and their decoration are part of the way in which archaeologists today define local cultures from prehistory.

Some of the earliest pottery of northern Mesopotamia is of a type known as Hassuna ware and dates to around 7000-6000 BC. Hassuna ware was ornamented with incision and/or red or black paint to form chevron and herringbone patterns, possibly inspired by basketry. Another type of painted pottery, known as Samarra ware, is found in central Mesopotamia and was painted with animals, swastikas and human faces, sometimes arranged in a whirling pattern.

From around 6000 BC the Hassuna and Samarra cultures were replaced by the Halaf culture which produced some extremely fine pottery decorated with bulls’ heads, and also snakes, leopards, human figures, and chequered and floral patterns. Painted pottery and figurines from Hajji Firuz in western Iran are similar to those found at sites in Mesopotamia, indicating contact over a very wide area. Less complex designs are found on Ubaid wares from southern Mesopotamia around 5900-4000 BC and related pottery traditions across southern Iran. The potter’s wheel was developed between 4000-3000 BC and pottery then became mass-produced and usually less extensively decorated.