subject of debate whether the Chinese, the Italians, or the Arabs invented it first.

Lajia is a very interesting site; in a way, it is the Pompeii of China

Prof Kam-biu Liu

The professor's team tells Nature that the ancient settlement at Lajia was hit by a sudden catastrophe.

Among the remains are skeletons thrown into various abnormal postures, suggesting the inhabitants may have been trying to flee the disaster that was enveloping them.

"Based on the geological and archaeological evidence, there was a catastrophic earthquake and immediately following the quake, the site was subject to flooding by the river," explained co-author Professor Kam-biu Liu, from Louisiana State University, US.

It was in amongst the human wreckage that scientists found an upturned earthenware bowl filled with brownish-yellow, fine clay.

When they lifted the inverted container,a decade before green standards were embraced by the construction industry. The success of up-cycling post-consumer waste plastics into high value product remains a milestone for the studio, alongside becoming Australia's first furniture manufacturer to satisfy the rigorous green timber standards of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and Greenpeace.

The work of Schamburg + Alvisse remains in the permanent collection of Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, and has been exhibited in Milan's Triennale Museum, San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art, and the Melbourne Museum. Marc and Michael have been honoured with Standards Australia's "International Design Award" and the Powerhouse Museum's "Sustainability Award". They are listed in the world's Hot 100 design studios in the Taschen book "Designing the 21st Century", and The Sydney Magazine's "100 most influential people" list for work