W

hile walking through the village of Ban Chiang in northeast Thailand in 1966, Stephen Young tripped on a kapok tree root, fell headlong, and launched one of the major archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

After finding himself on the ground he noticed a ceramic ring protruding from the soil, which turned out to be the rim of a partially buried clay pot. He then noticed that he was in fact surrounded by these "circles" in the earth.

The pots, slowly being exposed by erosion, were buff in color with striking designs in red. Young noticed that the sherds were not glazed, and so must have been very old. A lost ancient culture was being revealed.