* Astronomy

Archaeologists from Geneva University have discovered what they claim is Africa's oldest ceramic, dated at around 9,400BC, in eastern Mali.

"It's a tiny, ornate fragment that was made with great skill and the use of fire" - ethno-archaeologist Anne Mayor in Bamako, the Malian capital.

Mayor is part of an eight-person Swiss team in the country, comprising five scientists from Geneva and three from Fribourg, who are working with colleagues from Mali, Germany and France.

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