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Broken, charred and still crusted with nearly 8000-year-old food, the remnants of ancient pottery found across northern Eurasia wouldn’t be mistaken for fine china. But the advent of this durable technology—used to cook and store abundant plant and animal resources—was a huge step forward for hunter-gatherers in this part of the globe. It was also home-grown, new research suggests.For decades, researchers believed pottery arrived in Europe along with agriculture and domesticated animals, as part of a “package” of technologies that spread northward from Anatolia beginning about 9000 years ago. Pots found in Northern Europe dating around the same time were...

SpotLight: Stone Age Potters By : SANTHA OORJITHAM Bukit Tengkorak in Sabah’s southeastern Semporna peninsula was a pottery hub for the region 3,000 years ago. — Pictures courtesy of the Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Malaysia aims to become an ICT hub and an education hub, among others. But 3,000 years ago, it was a pottery-making hub, pre-historians tell SANTHA OORJITHAM. A clay stove found at Bukit Tengkorak archaeological site, in a style still used today. KAMPUNG Tampi-Tampi villagers today don’t think twice about using clay from the foot of Bukit Tengkorak and nearby areas in...