If you've ever visited a museum of decorattive arts, gone to the Housewares section of a department store or strolled through an antiques mall, it is obvious that humans have a deep need for pretty dishes. It doesn't surprise me that it goes back 20,000 years.
There probably were dishes before that, but the glaciers have ground them all up, and we'll never know.
I'm intrigued by the tiny bumps on the pottery in the picture. They are not the result of fingers pressing the clay - they are decoration. Ah, the basic human needs - food, water, shelter, sex and decorating.