The red, iron-ore bearing clay deposited by the longest river in Turkey, called “Kizilirmak”, or "Red River", is known to classical scholars as "The Halys". It has been used to make pottery in Avanos for thousands of years.
During the second millennium BCE, Avanos was inhabited by Assyrian traders, and it was later taken over by the Hittites, who called the river the "Marassantiya". Some of the techniques and designs used by potters
today date back to this period.
At one time every house had a potter’s wheel, and no family would give their daughter in marriage if the groom could not make pots! Today, the best of the ceramics and tiles on sale in Istanbul and other major cities
are from here.
You can watch potters spinning their traditional kick-wheels with their feet, and even try throwing a pot yourself.
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