The Invention
of Right-Angle Construction
in the Paleolithic Era
the capabilities of right-angle woven-fiber technology and basketry.
Click on any picture to see the images in slideshow fashion.
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(Right) A modern complex built using right-angle steel-framed construction.
NOTE: Of course, with a dome-like structure and non-rectangular shapes, all the elements of a frame or the structure are not always at a strict right angle in relation to each other, nevertheless a consistent perpendicular opposition is a key part of these structures.
"From basket weaving to loom-weaving, the process of weaving was already known in the Paleolithic era, as early as 27,000 years ago. Weaving, the process of joining individual threads together at RIGHT ANGLES [ED: my emphasis] to one another, has been around for millennia."BSAMPLY. "WHAT ARE WOVEN FABRICS?"https://bsamply.com/what-are-woven-fabrics/ Accessed August 7, 2020.
"The idea of interlacing materials together to create a weave was probably inspired by nature; by observing birds’ nests, spider webs and various animal constructions..."Wild Tussah. "The History of Weaving." September 2014. https://wildtussah.com/history-weaving-2/ Accessed August 7, 2020.
(Right) A completed nest with a male and female weaverbird ready to move in.
ABOUT THE WEAVERBIRD"The nest is made from long strips torn from the leaves of grasses, which are intertwined in a regular lattice formed by passing successive strips over and under, and in a direction orthogonal to, strips already laid. It is held together, and attached to the substrate, by a variety of stitches and fastenings... The bird uses its beak rather like a needle in sewing or darning."Ingold, Tim. "Chapter Nineteen Of string bags and birds’ nests Skill and the construction of artifacts." The Perception of the Environment, Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Taylor & Francis Group.
A weaverbird starting to build a nest. He is creating the basic skeleton
that the nest will be built around.
Weaverbirds gave hominids good initial instructions which included most of the basics of basket weaving such as creating a regular lattice, tearing then placing long strips at an opposing angle to already existing strips, passing the strips over and under and tying this all together with a variety of knots. Eventually, hominids would have been able to expand on this craft.
THE FIRST HOMINID BASKETS WERE PROBABLY 'RANDOM WEAVE' CONSTRUCTIONS
Assuming that the model for early basket-like containers and carriers was bird nests and such, the most likely human-made designs were probably made with a 'random weave.' This is due to the fact that a random weave in many ways imitated the process that birds used to build nests such as the construction process of weaverbirds who were common in Africa then and now [2].
A random weave basket generally starts with a circular or oval bare-bones open skeleton made of strong thick branches or vines which are intertwined. The branches might be green so that they are pliable. The sides are then laced with smaller more flexible (often green) branches and vines that are woven over and under the skeleton frame and over and under each other and at opposing angles to existing strands. When allowed to dry out, a simple basket like this is remarkably strong and can hold two to six kilograms, in my experience. It is also quite light, so carrying it for a long-distance would not have been a problem.
Such technology would have given early hominids a distinct survival advantage. For example, it would have allowed hominins to forage much further from their base because they could bring back a large amount of food from distant locations.
(Right) A simple basket using opposing strands.
Over time this basic construction could have evolved into a more regular and standard right-angle structure, the kind that we are familiar with. And once mastered this design could have been expanded and developed to create a wide range of items.
The principle of regular basket weaving is quite simple. A set of strands is placed at right angles to another set of strands. In basket weaving the vertical stands, known as spokes, are fairly hard. Then the opposing strands, called weaver strands, are more flexible and wrap over and under around the spokes to make the walls of the basket. While the term 'basket' and 'basket weaving' is used, the ancient craft applies to mats, flexible bags and sacks, wide gauge and fine gauge baskets, different styles of weaving, and a large variety of fiber articles from sandals to boats and houses. In short, the 'basket weaver' was/is a fiber craftsman.
However, the historic timetable is unclear. When humans first began to make random weave baskets and how long this went on is unclear. Yet, logically, this would have been the craft that preceded sophisticated right-angle woven structures.
It was no accident that the two earliest civilizations Sumer and Egypt employed weaving as a key technology throughout their empires. Both had plants that could be used for a variety of woven-fiber structures. In Sumer, the primary materials were the reeds that grew abundantly in the mashes as well as esparto for rugged baskets and the best rope. In Egypt, it was papyrus and flax which could be used to make sacks, cloth, baskets, sandals, and even boats. Egypt's granaries, for example, were managed with sacks of grain. Quite simply, neither civilization would have been able to function without woven-fiber technology.
In the Elementary Sumerian Glossary the highly respected 'basket weaver' is defined as: "a reed craftsman, basket and mat weaver"
Foxvog, Daniel A. Elementary Sumerian Glossary. University of California at Berkeley, revised 2008. SumerianGlossaryFoxvog.pdf
PICTURE ESSAY
It is my educated guess that humans probably discovered the power of right-angle construction with basket weaving and then expanded that technology to make larger, stronger, and/or more complex woven structures.
Yet in a sense, it does not matter if this insight came from basket weaving. What does matter is that at some point it became part of and central to basket weaving and when it did it allowed a huge variety of objects to be constructed. Then this technology gave humans a distinct advantage in the struggle for survival.
Moreover, we can say with certainty that eventually new woven designs were invented for a wide variety of uses such as making fish traps with an open type of weaving, and hats, and sandals, and mats, i.e., myriads of items small to large. This was possible because right-angle technology was scalable. As you will see in the following picture gallery, small one-person boats could be made with this technology as well as huge boats for commercial purposes. I believe it started small and evolved into many small things and then later evolved into bigger things.
The following images illustrate just how versatile this technology became, a technology that we do know was in place at least by the Neolithic era -- but probably much earlier.
ABOUT THESE IMAGES
PLEASE NOTE: The following photographs and images were found at commons.wikimedia.org with a few exceptions. All images are used with permission.
At the end of this article, I have listed the web link for each image. To get more information about each one, please go to the Internet page for that image.
In the following descriptions, phrases in quotes are quoted from the original image description.
HOUSING
---- African Huts ----
These traditional huts are based on a basket-type right-angle design. They are essentially large upside-down baskets which are then covered with a robust woven outer layer that keeps out the wind and the rain.
"Swazi type hut under construction."
This shows the skeleton structure over which a covering is placed.
Detail of thatching of the replica Zulu hut (full view of Zulu hut is above bottom left).
Large mudhif buildings made entirely of reeds.
Weaving technology once mastered can be scaled up to make quite large structures such as these traditional mudhif reed houses that have been made for centuries by the Mudan people in the marshes of southern Iraq. These are used for community gatherings.
(Left) Interior of mudhif. "A mudhif, a traditional Marsh Arab guesthouse made entirely out of reeds. The Marsh Arabs live a lifestyle that dates back 5,000 years."
(Right) Very large mudhif building in Nasiriyah Iraq.
(Left) Local contractors begin the job of building a mudhif. "The reeds are gathered from marshlands near the Euphrates River."
(Middle) "Local contractors construct the main reed arches of a marsh Arab mudhif."
(Right) Almost completed, the mudhif exterior.
---- Neolithic Reconstructions ----
(Top) "Neolithic model dwelling, from an excavation in Hungary of the 5th millenium . Musée des tumulus de Bougon"
(Bottom) Model: "Wels ( Upper Austria ). City Museum - Minoritenkloster: Model of a neolithic village."
(Left) Building detail, interior. "Neolithical village Heldenberg."
(Right) From the Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen in Germany. The open-air museum comprises several reconstructions such as this.
(Left) Reconstruction. "Neolithic loom, Vinca, Serbia."
(Right) "Cucuteni Vertical Loom Reconstruction Piatra nNamt."
Soffer O, Adovasio JM, Hyland DC, Klíma B, Svoboda J. "Perishable Industries from Dolní Vestonice I: New Insights into the Nature and Origin of the Gravettian." Paper Prepared for the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology Seattle, Washington, 25–29 March 1998. DolniVestonice.pdf.
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