Pottery manufacturing. The Neolithic Period saw humans recognize the characteristics of clay and use it in architecture or areas such as the manufacturing of beads, seals, or figurines. Food on the other hand was stored using organic materials such as wood, straw or leather. The firing of clay to create pottery started in the 7th millennium BC. From that period on, pottery made for storing, cooking, carrying, preparing and eating of food would over time be enriched with different shapes, surface processes and decorations while also being increasingly used for symbolic an practical purposes. (Text at the Akarçay Tepe image of a man making some cup.)