Professional clay artwork
Clay is very fine particles of dirt which float in a stream or river and then sink to the bottom. The most important thing that people in the ancient world did with clay was to build houses. They mixed straw with the clay to help it stick together better. If you dry clay in the sun you can make it soft again just by throwing it in a bucket of water and waiting a week or two. People first began to fire clay about 6000 BC.