Alie Ward

Do you ever have to inform people, like, when did pottery start?

Is that the Venus of Willendorf?

No.

Graham held a small figurine up to his webcam for me.

And before this interview, I tried to study a few historical pieces, and I thought maybe this was the famous squat and very curvy Venus of Willendorf.

Turns out, I don't know shit about pottery history, and that is why we're all here.

So the figure he's holding is roughly a four-inch tall, rich brown ceramic sculpture of a woman with wide hips, a very deep navel, a smooth head and pendulous breasts.

And it's noteworthy because of its age.

What age are we talking?

Remember, fine china is about 2,000 years old.

Ancient Grecian pottery...

about 3,000 years old.

So when was this figure made in what is now the Czech Republic?

And that Venus of Willendorf I mistook it for is actually carved out of stone.

So not ceramic at all.

Again, what do I know about historic ceramic figurines?

Not much, which is why I'm making an expert 3,000 miles away talk to me.

Two of them, actually.

How long before you start seeing pots or pinch pots or thrown pots?

When do they think maybe it went from figurines to vessels?