More than 5,000 years ago, a man was working by the Nile River near the water's edge.

Squatting in a dirty white kilt, he dug his hands deep into the mud of the riverbank.

He scooped out handfuls of clay and dropped them into a basket with a wet slap.

When the basket was full, the man hoisted it onto his head and made his way back up the

riverbank. He headed for home at the next phase of his work. The man's home was simple,

a mud brick construction shaped in a wonky rectangle.

Its roof was made of animal skins. It was a modest but comfortable place to live.

Also a place to work. A few meters away from the city. a a platform with small pips made to hold the pieces which this man crafted.

The man was a potter and on this simple mound he turned the clay of the Nile

into high quality pots and vases. It was a good job and from this little place of work the man

fashioned a lasting legacy in clay. He also did something quite stupid.

One day the man was working on his pottery kiln.

He prepared the vessel, then placed it in one of the pits and set a small fire.

The vays would bake and the clay would harden. Soon a pot would be ready for use.

Well, not this time. As the man's pottery was baking, the wind shifted, and the embers from the fire blew out of the mound and over to the man's house.

So close together the mound and the house were within easy reach, and the flickers of fire hit his home.

You can guess what happened next.

The building, a simple wood and brick construction, caught fire.

Soon it was in a blaze and the house burned to the ground.

What a bad day!

In 1978, archaeologists working in the ancient city of Nekeen, discovered the burned remains of this Potter's house.

The fire had been a disaster for him, but a blessing for us.

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