Three soft stone technologies that characterize the Upper Paleolithic period are fired ceramic figurines, pigments prepared from colored minerals that often consist of or include clay, and, lastly, pottery vessels. The earliest synthetic material of which we have a permanent artifactual record was made at 26,000 cal BP (Klima 1959b, 1963), marking the beginnings of chemical technology and pyrotechnology and is the concern of the first part of this paper. A review is presented of Upper Paleolithic ceramic figurines at the group of habitation sites in Moravia that includes Dolní Věstonice, Pavlov, Předmosti and Petřkovice. Dolní Věstonice, the only proven production site with the largest collection of ceramics, was the focus of the study because of the possibility of analyzing figurine fragments, kiln remains and raw materials that enabled reverse engineering of the technology. The size of the ceramic inventory and the presence of kilns argue for intentional production of ceramic objects and demonstrates that the relevant cultural practices over time involved repetition and both transmission and learning of a specific, patterned performance behavior of ceramic technology. The high fracture rate encountered and the resistance of the raw material to thermal shock, however, strongly suggest that what was important was not the final, durable product, but rather the process of making and firing and/or refiring of the objects, probably for ritual, ceremonial and political purposes. Similar additive fabrication methods and firing of local pluvial clay deposits was practiced at the site of Maina in Siberia at ca. 15,000 cal BP to make a singular ceramic figurine. At the southern end of the Urals is Kapovaya, a cave with images and a date similar to those at Lascaux and where a single small bowl that may be a fired ceramic was excavated.

The second part discusses examples of ceramic processing technology without firing, if we understand ceramics as we define them today to include non-clay products made by processing of fine sub-10 μm, equiaxed or platy particles. Fine clay and pigment particles behave similarly when processed. Clays and pigments were processed at the cave site of Lascaux where excavation of the floor produced evidence of selected, collected and imported naturally occurring mineral and sediment blocks as well as fabricated chalk-like sticks referred to as “crayons.” These ground and fabricated blocks were used as manufacturing elements to apply red, yellow and black pigment to the cave walls at Lascaux. Stone ‘palettes’ were excavated from the floor with in-situ powders that indicate grinding and mixing of clays and pigments. This mixing also occurred on the tips of crayons.

The third part is focused on a third ceramic performance technology that preserved physical health of community members: the making and using of pottery vessels for cooking and storage, and a description of some problems involved in reconstructing the processing technology.

旧石器时代晚期的三种软石技术是烧制陶瓷小雕像、由通常由粘土组成或包括粘土的有色矿物制备的颜料，以及最后的陶器。我们拥有永久人工记录的最早合成材料是在 26,000 cal BP (Klima 1959b, 1963) 下制造的，标志着化学技术和火法技术的开始，也是本文第一部分关注的问题。对摩拉维亚居住地群中旧石器时代晚期陶瓷小雕像的回顾，包括 Dolní Věstonice、Pavlov、Předmosti 和 Petřkovice。Dolní Věstonice 是唯一经过验证的拥有最多陶瓷收藏的生产基地，由于可以分析小雕像碎片，因此成为研究的重点，窑残体和原材料，使该技术的逆向工程成为可能。陶瓷库存的规模和窑的存在证明了陶瓷制品的有意生产，并表明相关文化实践随着时间的推移涉及重复以及陶瓷技术特定的、模式化的性能行为的传播和学习。然而，遇到的高断裂率和原材料对热冲击的抵抗力强烈表明重要的不是最终的耐用产品，而是物体的制造和烧制和/或重新烧制的过程，可能是为了仪式、礼仪和政治目的。类似的增材制造方法和烧制当地雨积粘土矿床大约在西伯利亚的 Maina 遗址进行了实践。15、000 cal BP 来制作一个奇异的陶瓷小雕像。乌拉尔山脉的南端是 Kapovaya，这是一个带有图像和日期的洞穴，与拉斯科的洞穴相似，在那里挖掘了一个可能是烧制陶瓷的小碗。

第二部分讨论了未经烧制的陶瓷加工技术的例子，如果我们按照我们今天对陶瓷的定义来理解陶瓷，包括通过加工亚 10 微米、等轴或板状颗粒制成的非粘土产品。细粘土和颜料颗粒在加工时表现相似。粘土和颜料在 Lascaux 的洞穴遗址进行加工，在那里挖掘地板产生了选择、收集和进口的天然矿物和沉积物块以及被称为“蜡笔”的制造的粉笔状棒的证据。这些地面和制造的块被用作制造元素，将红色、黄色和黑色颜料涂在拉斯科的洞穴壁上。石头“调色板”是用原位粉末从地板上挖掘出来的，这些粉末表明粘土和颜料的研磨和混合。

第三部分重点介绍了维护社区成员身体健康的第三种陶瓷性能技术：用于烹饪和储存的陶器的制作和使用，并描述了重建加工技术中涉及的一些问题。