The story begins in the Middle East around 4000 BC. The ancient technique of building a coiled pot involved squeezing, squashing and smoothing the successive layers of coils into a thin even wall which swelled or tapered as it grew and enclosed a shape. To do this they needed to turn the pot around slowly as they worked.
Early potters soon learned to make the task of periodically turning the pot much easier and more efficient by beginning their coiling on a dish or bowl, or even a flat plate or smooth platter they could twist round as they worked.
Most early coiled pots are round bottomed. They were probably started in a bowl which could be easily turned or rolled around whilst adding and smoothing the clay coils.
However, soon after 4000 BC in Mesopotamia, a new discovery/invention was made... the wheel.
Eventually a small turntable or "tournette" was developed. With this a pot could be turned around much more easily and quickly. The pot making technique gradually changed during the third millennium BC as more potters adopted the turntable for making and decorating. However, it took a long time for free running steady turntables to be developed, therefore "throwing", as we understand the technique today, did not develop for a long time to come. It would be more accurate to describe this turntable making process as "fast coiling".
The earliest records of the potter's trade and in particular the development of the wheel can be seen in the records and pictures made by the Egyptians around 2000 BC. The line drawings below are from wall paintings found in
Ancient Egyptian tombs.

The man on the left appears to be wedging the piece of clay. The potter on the right cuts off a bowl from a hump of clay, using a string, while pulling round the turntable.
Making pots on turntables. Notice the range of pots portrayed above.
Assistant holding a finished bowl.
Lighting the tall kiln.
Emptying the kiln.

Carrying away fired pots.
Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, during the next 2000 years or more, depict potters at work using a number of different versions of turntables made from wood and stone.
Here is a reconstruction of an ancient
Egyptian potter using one type of turntable, as illustrated in the tomb paintings. He smoothes the top of the pot with one hand while pulling round the turntable with the other hand.
Diagram illustrating the probable structure of the previous turntable.

An Egyptian God pictured using a potter’s turntable. This version is turned by kicking with the foot, leaving both hands free to work on the pot. It appears to be a more free-running turntable.
This diagram illustrates the probable construction of the turntable shown in the last illustration.
A small limestone model of an
Egyptian potter making a bowl using a turntable with heavy wheel head which was probably made of stone. It had a central socket pivoting on a hard stone point. Its weight and the low friction bearing would produce force and speed; another step towards the modern potters wheel.

The earliest turntables were probably not very free-turning, but gradually potters learned how to make the shaft/pivot/bearings with less friction, and much heavier turntables. Both improvements increased the speed, momentum and power of the wheel. Eventually it would become possible for a faster and heavier turntable/potter's wheel to be used for "throwing" a pot.
Around 7 BC, the appearance of stemmed clay goblets and pottery decoration with smooth spirals and true circles are evidence of the use of the potter’s wheel.
Strangely, the technique of making a pot changed only gradually over the centuries, even though the pottery wheel improved quite rapidly. Most pots were still made by coiling, but the faster wheel enabled much larger coils to be blended together faster and smoothed into a thin even wall. This "Fast Coiling" method is still common in many villages of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Asia even today.
From the Eastern
Mediterranean world into Europe, the potter’s wheel developed into a bench high turntable with a large heavy flywheel at foot level, as illustrated in a book on pottery making techniques from 16th century Italy.
19th century French potters used wheels very similar in design to the previous 16th century ones, but built with better materials, so they ran much smoother… allowing the actual tech nique of “throwing” to develop.

"Throwing" derives from the Old English or Saxon term "to twist". Throwing with this type of wheel was cyclical. The potter kicked the heavy flywheel until it revolved fast, then worked on the lump of soft clay. Because slurry was used for lubrication, a large sheet of soft leather was used as a catch basin and the potter wore an apron for protection. As the speed of the wheel dropped, it became more difficult to work on the clay, so the potter stopped throwing and kicked the flywheel up to speed again. This cyclical process was repeated until the work was finished.
From India to the Far East, a distinctive variation of the potter's wheel developed. The heavy flywheel itself was often the throwing table. Balanced on a fine point with the weight carefully distributed, it was speeded up using a rod or stick.
In China and Japan, it was usual for the potter to sit at or near ground level, not on a raised seat as in the West. Sometimes, controlling the speed of the wheel was the job of an assistant.
Of interesting, but inexplicable note, the
Eastern potter has always turned his wheel clockwise, while the Western potter has turned his counter clockwise!
Until the industrial revolution in 18-19th century Europe, the potter's wheel hardly changed. With the advent of electricity and mechanized machines, the electric potter’s wheel that we know today eventually came into being. Some potters today still prefer the more silent and individually-controlled momentum kick wheel to the modern variable-speed electric wheel.