Discover the oldest ceramic piece in the world

Archaeologists discovered pottery pieces dating back to 20,000 years in a cave in China.

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A piece of pottery in Xianrendong cave in Jiangxi, China.

Pottery pieces found by Chinese archaeologists and colleagues from Germany and the US in a cave called Xianrendong in Jiangxi province, China, reported.

Results of chronological analysis of radioactive carbon showed that people began living in caves from about 17,500 to 29,000 before. The oldest pottery in the cave was created about 20,000 years ago, meaning that before human agriculture was born.

Archaeologists believe that a community of people - living through hunting and gathering - has created pottery pieces from about 20,000 years ago. The scorched marks on pottery suggest that perhaps the ancients used them to cook food.

Many current theories suggest that humans invented pottery about 10,000 years ago, when our ancestors abandoned their hunting and gathering lifestyles to focus on farming and breeding. The appearance of ceramic pieces in Xianrendong cave shows that these theories are not true.

'The focus in ceramics research will have to change. The new discovery helps us better understand the social and economic changes from 19,000 to 25,000 years ago , "said Gideon Shelach, an East Asian researcher at the Hebrew University in Israel. .