Archaeologist: ancient pottery shards reveal much about our ancestors
University of Latvia researcher Vanda Haferberga explains that even a small fragment of ancient pottery can reveal a great deal about how our ancestors lived, what they ate and where they sourced their clay.
Ancient pottery shards serve archaeologists as a kind of mirror into the past, offering a glimpse of the people who once lived in these lands. This is discussed by Vanda Haferberga, a researcher at the University of Latvia's Faculty of Humanities, Department of History and Archaeology.
What a shard can tell us
According to the researcher, even a small and seemingly insignificant piece of ceramic can provide a surprising amount of information. By analyzing such finds, archaeologists can draw conclusions about how people of the time lived and what their daily diet looked like.
The journey of the clay
Haferberga also points to the question of how far ancestors traveled to obtain clay for making pottery. This suggests that ancient people did not always rely solely on resources available in their immediate surroundings, but sometimes journeyed considerable distances to acquire suitable material.
The researcher emphasizes that such discoveries allow archaeologists to build a fuller picture of the daily life, habits and economic activity of ancient societies, even when only small fragments of vessels have survived.
