The earliest pottery found in the British Isles dates from the Neolithic period. Made by hand from local clays, the pots were built up from coils or slabs of clay and fired at relatively low temperatures in bonfires and pits. Pottery from the earlier Neolithic period is round-based but would have stood quite safely on earth floors.

The first pots were plain bowls with a sharp break (‘carination’) in their profile. By 3600 BC there was more variety in shape and vessels were simply decorated with round stab-marks and incised lines; it may be that this represents the development of regional styles.

Just before 3300 BC, the often highly decorated bowls known as Peterborough Ware (Impressed Ware) developed. These pots have heavier and more elaborate rims. They are also more richly decorated, with designs impressed into the clay using things like twisted cord, hollow reeds and bird bones. The first flat bases are also associated with this tradition.

Later in the Neolithic a new pottery tradition appeared, with a distinctive range of shapes (including tub-like vessels) and decoration. Known as Grooved Ware because of the geometric patterns grooved into the surface of some vessels, this style of pot may have originated in northern Scotland but quickly spread across much of Britain.