The knowledge of ways to form glazes on pottery is dated back to at least 5000 B.C. Since glazes were made in many parts of the world long before the beginnings of any scientific knowledge of chemistry, it is clear that the processes involved must have been simple and the raw materials were abundant. The chemical make-up of glazes was not known to the ancient people in glazing their pottery. Their results were achieved by strictly experimental methods that had no basis in scientific knowledge or theory, but their results were in no way inferior to the best of present-day glazes.
The Egyptians, who undoubtedly made the first glazed ware, used the soda compounds that are found in abundance in the desert areas of the Near East.
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