Deep Bowl with Four Projections, 2500-1500 BCE, Unknown Japanese, 21 1/4 x 22 in. (53.98 x 55.88 cm), Earthenware, Japan, 25th-15th century BCE, Japans first ceramic culture, the Jōmon (14,000-300 bce), produced strongly tactile pottery over 3,500 years ago. This lavishly decorated bowl was probably used during religious ceremonies. Its flamboyant rim, a typical feature of the middle period of Jōmon pottery, is known as the 'fire-flame' type, because the coils of clay resemble leaping flames. The word jōmon, after which the historical period is named, means 'cord markings' and derives from the distinctive patterns produced by rolling a rope-wrapped stick across the surface of the clay. The lower portion of this vessel bears these markings, together with whimsical designs carved into the surface of the clay.