According to Anne-Marie Anthony, Director of Research at the CNRS (The National Centre for Scientific Research) in 1982: “Towards the Upper Paleolithic era, 10,000BC, modern man was born and became sedentary at which point pottery became a family activity. The firing techniques of the period involved polishing and smoking the surface of the clay. The polishing was done using smooth pebbles before the clay was fully dried. This technique “sealed” the surface and rendered the vessels relatively impermeable.”
Today we continue this ancestral method of firing here in the Dordogne, “the home of prehistoric man”, at a place known as “Peyrelevade” which means “standing stone”.