Aceramic is defined as "not producing pottery". In archaeology, the term used means "without pottery". Aceramic societies mostly used bark, basketry, gourds, leather, etc. for containers. It is sometimes used to refer to a specific early Neolithic period before a culture develops ceramics, such as the Middle Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, in which case it is a synonym of preceramic (or pre-pottery). "Aceramic" is also used to describe a culture at any time prior to its development of pottery, and cultures which lack pottery altogether. A preceramic period is traditionally regarded as occurring in the early stage of the Neolithic period of a culture, however recent findings in Japan and China have pushed the origin of ceramic technology there well back into the Paleolithic era.