Ban Chiang finds point to a mysterious cradle of civilization
On a hot day in July 1966, Stephen Young was walking through the village of Ban Chiang in northeastern Thailand when he tripped across history. "I stumbled over the root of a kapok tree and ended up spread-eagle in the dirt, and under my face was the rim of a pot," recalls Young, who was then a 20-year-old Harvard student spending the summer researching a political-science thesis.
Once on his feet, he saw that the sloping path was studded with broken pots. Examining some of the fragments, Young, who is now dean of...