In an era when people use DNA kits to trace their origins, consider this: All of us, regardless of ancestry, are descendants of Neolithic cultures that made and used clay pottery. How many times you put “Great” in front of “Grandma” or “Grandpa” to go far enough back to find a pottery-maker or pottery-user depends on your ancestors’ culture and on geography, but go back far enough and you find relatives shaping clay into bowls, cooking pots and storage jars (or using pottery in their daily lives). Pottery-making marks a major step in human progress.

Stone Age people, testing uses for natural materials, discovered that clay can be shaped into useful forms and when dried and heated in the sun or fire, becomes durable and nearly waterproof. Ancient Chinese cultures discovered this 10,000 yea

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