Pangea | by Michael Gorman

Raku-Fired Stoneware Ceramic
 
Pangea was the super-continent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It was formed from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart during the Jurassic period about 175 million years ago. 
 
In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, much of Pangaea was in the southern hemisphere and surrounded by a superocean, Panthalassa. Pangaea was the most recent supercontinent to have existed.
 
The name "Pangaea/Pangea" is derived from Ancient Greek pan ("all, entire, or whole") and Gaia ("Mother Earth, land"). Fossil evidence for Pangaea includes the presence of similar and identical species on continents that are now great distances apart.
 
There is something prehistoric about this piece. When it fired and I removed it from the pile of ashes, I saw the contrast of reds and blues across the surface. I felt as if I was holding an acient globe of the earth. Large land masses surrounded by a great ocean and dotted with great lakes.