The Need to Change
the Term 'Basket Weaving'
to the Term
'Woven-Fiber Technology'
The current name for this subject,
'Basket Weaving',
is hindering research
into the origins of basketry
in the Paleolithic era
'Basket Weaving',
is hindering research
into the origins of basketry
in the Paleolithic era
By about 1900 basketry was seen as a lowly art form.
These are photos of some humble basket peddlers.
These are photos of some humble basket peddlers.
ABSTRACT: I am suggesting that the term 'basket weaving' be replaced with the term 'woven-fiber technology' when talking about baskets and fiber constructions in prehistory. I say this because the term 'basket weaving' may be outdated. While it once may have been a general term for all kinds of weaving that resulted in a wide variety of products, most people today think of it as meaning baskets only. Furthermore, while basket weaving was a technology and baskets could be thought of as tools and basketry was clearly an industry, none of these words are associated with Paleolithic or Neolithic basket weaving (see Google searches) although all these terms are used when discussing or researching stone tools from those periods. In the discipline of paleoanthropology, this becomes a serious problem as it tends to limit the scope of research and funding for research. I suggest that the term basket weaving should be replaced with a more inclusive term that also emphasizes that the weaving of fibers was a technology and an important one that may have begun early in the development of hominins. The term I suggest is 'woven-fiber technology'.
THE PROBLEM WITH SERIOUS BASKET WEAVING RESEARCH
"Basket weaving can't get no respect"
With apologies to Rodney Dangerfield
One of the greatest barriers to the acceptance of basket weaving as a key technology in the development and evolution of hominins is the lack of a good general terminology for the craft.
There are a number of reasons for this, some important and some even humorous. Here is a current definition of basket weaving:
The Lexico dictionary website, powered by Oxford Languages, had this definition:bas·ket-weav·ingnoun1. the art or activity of creating woven baskets.2. HUMOROUSused as the type of college course that is thought to be without any practical or professional value.And it also had these examples about the humorous definition:-- ‘If your transcript is filled with easy A's, such those as earned in classes like the fabled Basket-Weaving 101, you'll likely be ranked below a student who has a lower GPA comprised of courses in the hard sciences.’-- ‘When I was in school, we called this kind of course Basket-Weaving 101 (actually, we did not have any courses this absurd, but some were almost as easy as this one seems to be).’-- ‘So even though they fail a core class, they can still get an A in "basket-weaving 101" or "making balloon doggies" 102, and pass to the next grade.’
And let's not forget the famous fictitious college course we all laughed about: Underwater Basket Weaving. This "is an idiom referring pejoratively to supposedly useless or absurd college or university courses" (Wikipedia.org). There is even a full Wikipedia page on this:
But it gets even worse. I found the same glib references not only in the United States but also in England. In fact, you can view a complete tongue-in-cheek course outline (see next) for Underwater Basket Weaving from the University of Portsmouth, UK at this web address.
This picture, captured from a Portsmouth University (UK) joke syllabus, is classic British dry humor where there is almost no hint that this listing is for a class that does not exist and that it is about the well-known simple and pointless course in basket weaving.The University of Central Arkansas went one step further and proposed an interdisciplinary major in Underwater Basket Weaving that was published in a student magazine.
Shinnie, Ferri. "New degree to be offered." The Vino 2003, Volume 21 - Issue 4.
And there is a Finish word "puuhastelu" which means "busy work, basketweaving (useless or unproductive activity)."
All of these reflect and define a modern attitude toward the craft of basketry, i.e., it is seen as a simple unimportant lowly craft. The Encyclopedia Britannica at one point called it "humble and banal."
https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry
https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry
The next painting, entitled Not Of the Fold, shows a family that was shunned as the father was reduced to the demeaning job of making baskets.
This painting is entitled, "Not Of the Fold" by Englishman Frederick Morgan and painted circa 1880. "Not Of the fold" is a British expression meaning that a person or family does not belong to a normal accepted society; 'the fold' means something similar to 'the flock' which is more common in American English.
In earlier times, baskets and basket weaving were highly valued. They were vital for the success of the first ancient civilizations of Egypt and Babylon, for example. But I believe that about 100 years ago when mass production became available, baskets were replaced by manufactured goods that were so inexpensive basketry's long-time value became lost.
In any case, these denigrating attitudes mean that basket weaving is often not taken seriously, especially in colleges and universities. Yet, as I have written many times in my articles, this is a major mistake because basket weaving may have been one of the crucial technologies that led to the survival, evolution, and eventual dominance of our species.
BASKET WEAVING AS AN IMPORTANT CRAFT
Nevertheless, there is another side to the story. Many museums around the world collect and proudly display basketry. The finest baskets can sell for a substantial amount of money and ancient Native American Indian baskets, considered to be the pinnacle of the craft and the art form, can sell for thousands of dollars.
Because just about every society in the world had a basket technology that was often unique to that culture, there are museums worldwide that collect these works. Next follows a list of only some of what is available.
Museums With Significant Basketry Collections
About 80 museums in the United States alone are listed
Major basket collections are included in such prestigious museums as the Metropolitan in NYC and the British Museum in London.
In the Metropolitan a search found 1,976 results for "baskets" (including 3500-year-old Egyptian baskets)
An ancient coiled basket From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Asasif, East of Pabasa, Radim, Burial. Dated circa 2030 –1640 B.C., Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 13–17. Construction of Halfa grass and rush basketry. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
In the British Museum a search for "baskets" found 4,631 related objects.
It should also be noted that, for at least the last 100 years, basket weaving has been used to teach mathematics, geometry, and structure to young people, from kindergarten to seniors in high school. And this still continues today. See my last blog-article for a listing of some of these programs.
Basket-Weaving Education and Its Cognitive Aspects
And finally, containers and baskets are considered a cultural universal [1] meaning that virtually every culture, every society, every farming community, and every hunter-gatherer tribe made containers and baskets. They were made with local plants, local weaving patterns, and with the traditions of their society for a variety of local purposes. This in itself testifies to the importance of basketry.
CHANGING THE WAY BASKET WEAVING IS PERCEIVED
I believe that the term 'basket weaving' is now outdated as a term for academic or archeological research and should be updated to reflect the fact that it is:
#1. A technology
#2. That a wide variety of objects, from small to large, have been created from a wide variety of fibers with a wide variety of techniques with almost limitless possibilities
#3. That this craft may have begun very early in hominid or hominin evolution
#4. That many baskets can be thought of as tools
#5. That there were/are many basket weaving industries
--------------------------------
FIXING THE PROBLEM #1:
THE TERM BASKET IS NOT INCLUSIVE
Let's start with the basic term 'basket weaving'. I believe that in the past, this may have referred to a general type of craft that included baskets but also many more items made with this type of technology such as mats or hats or fish traps, or even reed boats. It was the general name for a kind of technology that was not just confined to baskets.
So it may have once been a little like the current usage of the word 'horsepower'. When a person buys a car or boat or powerful engine that lists a horsepower number, no one thinks about horses.
Words and phrases in a language have a way of changing over time. Sometimes they gain a more general meaning and sometimes a more specific meaning. In the case of basket weaving today, most people think of it only as applying specifically to baskets and not as a general technology.
Historically this may have been different. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who were superb basket weavers, characterized the technology in this much more general way. In the Elementary Sumerian Glossary, a basket weaver was defined as:"a reed craftsman, basket, and mat weaver."[2]
The Encyclopedia Britannica spelled it out quite well in the following (https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry)"Though it would appear that basketry might best be defined as the art or craft of making baskets, the fact is that the name is one of those the limits of which seem increasingly imprecise the more one tries to grasp it. The category basket may include receptacles made of interwoven, rather rigid material, but it may also include pliant sacks made of a mesh indistinguishable from netting—or garments or pieces of furniture made of the same materials and using the same processes as classical basket making. In fact, neither function nor appearance nor material nor mode of construction are of themselves sufficient to delimit the field of what common sense nevertheless recognizes as basketry."
Called a mudhif or modhit, these large buildings, made entirely of reeds, were possible with basket weaving coiled construction.
"A mudhif, a traditional Marsh Arab guesthouse made entirely out of reeds. The Marsh Arab live a lifestyle that dates back 5,000 years." (Wikimedia.org)
Nevertheless in the modern world, we are stuck with the name baskets as meaning containers and not much else (see the Oxford definition above) even though in the past it may have applied to a huge variety of items from small to large, from sandals to large grass houses. So we need a new term that can include the wide range of products that were/are possible with basket technology.
--------------------------------
FIXING THE PROBLEM #2:
BASKET WEAVING IS(!) A TECHNOLOGY BUT IS NOT REGARDED AS SUCH
For some very odd reason basket weaving is generally not understood as a technology by historians or archaeologists. While Dr. Adovasio wrote a book about prehistoric basketry entitled Basket Technology [3], he is virtually the only academic who has made such a claim. And, at the same time, stone tool making is widely considered a technology. There is clearly some kind of disconnect here.
This picture is of a large reed boat at the harbor; it was constructed using coiled basket weaving techniques. This is a fanciful, but perhaps not inaccurate, painting of a ship at the port of Eridu, considered to be the oldest city of the first civilization of Sumer about 5000 years ago.
Even larger ships were constructed and were capable of carrying over 25 tons as shown by Thor Heyerdahl when he recreated such a boat, the Tigris, in 1978. ("The Tigris expedition: a National Geographic special" (documentary about Thor Heyerdahl's expedition). National Geographic Society, broadcast on PBS 04/01/1979.)
If you think I am exaggerating consider this: I did a Google search for these terms and here are the results:
GOOGLE SEARCHES (phrases searched in quotes)
SEARCH FOR TECHNOLOGY
Search = "prehistoric basket weaving technology"
No results found for "prehistoric basket weaving technology".
Search = "prehistoric basket technology"
No results found for "prehistoric basket technology".
Search = "paleolithic basket technology"
No results found for "paleolithic basket technology".
Search = "paleolithic baskets"
About 9 results (mostly from this blog).
BUT:
Search = "paleolithic stone tool technology"
About 4,900 results.
Search = "prehistoric stone tool technology"
About 6,410 results.
Search = "paleolithic stone tools"
About 23,400 results.
So while the word 'technology' does not seem to be associated with basket weaving, it is a technology, nevertheless. It involves a wide range of designs, materials, types of weave, sizes, and uses. This means a new terminology about the craft of basket weaving needs to include the word technology.
DOES BASKET WEAVING MEET THE CRITERIA FOR TECHNOLOGY?
A Definition:
Technology is "knowledge put into practical use to solve problems or invent useful tools."
My comment: Such as applying an understanding of woven structure to create a number of containers and other items such as fish traps?
https://www.britannica.com/technology/technology
Furthermore, there is the concept of tools. Even if we limit the discussion to containers, I believe that prehistoric hand-carried baskets were tools. Yet when I read about basketry, baskets are not often thought of as tools. But they were just that. A basket was a tool just as an Oldowan stone chopper or scrapper was a tool. Containers were/are essential and common to all cultures according to Dr. Donald Brown in his book Human Universals (1991) [4]. A basket was a tool to help gather food, for example. Or a basket container was a tool for storing food.
DOES BASKET WEAVING MEET THE CRITERIA FOR TOOL MAKING?A main definition of tool:"A handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task."My comment: Such as a hand carried basket that is used to gather food and materials?
GOOGLE SEARCHES (phrases searched in quotes)
SEARCH FOR 'TOOLS'
Search = "prehistoric basket tools"
No results found for "prehistoric basket tools".
Search = "prehistoric fiber tools"
No results found for "prehistoric fiber tools".
Search = "prehistoric stone tools"
About 44,100 results.
So the terms 'technology' and 'tool' are not associated with basket weaving. Because basket weaving has been locked out of these important concepts, this has sent a signal to academic scholars that this subject lacks a seal of approval that would justify serious study and funding. I believe that if these words began to be associated with basket weaving or woven-fiber technology it would spark interest among researchers, anthropologists, and archaeologists, and of course research grants, but especially young people who are deciding which path to follow.
But today this lack of respect for basketry and related technologies has meant that this subject matter has not been looked at very carefully by paleoanthropologists and archaeologists.
Speaking about the lack of archaeological interest in basketry, mats, and textiles, Grace M. Crowfoot wrote the following in A History of Technology, Volume 1. "In considering gaps in the knowledge of textiles, it must be remembered that there are vast areas where little archaeological study has been undertaken...Surviving pieces of rag were often rejected as without interest...Determination of the exact botanical origin of the fibres used in basketry and weaving has only quite recently been recognized as of archaeological importance."[5]
The words 'Technology', 'Tool' and 'Industry' are not normally associated with the term 'Basket Weaving' and yet Basket Weaving is all of these things and more.
--------------------------------
FIXING THE PROBLEM #3:
We need to get past the old world prehistoric technology categories, i.e., the three-age system of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.
For almost three hundred years now, prehistoric technology has been characterized by the three-age system of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age which in a sense crowded out recognition of other technologies that might have occurred during these periods. Nevertheless, this three-age system has become entrenched. While these three ages are not incorrect, they should not be thought of as exclusive. A number of very old wooden spears and other items have been found from the Lower Paleolithic era, for example. And even well-preserved baskets and basket weaving items have been found from the New Stone Age or Neolithic time period.
Baskets from the Middle Neolithic made between 7200 and 6800 BP and found in the Cueva de Los Murciélagos (literally "Bats' Cave") near Granada Spain.
The Clacton Spear Point is believed to be the tip of a wooden spear. It was found in Clacton-on-Sea (UK) in 1911. It has been dated to 400,000 years old and is considered to be the oldest worked wooden implement that has been found.
Allington-Jones, L. "The Clacton Spear – The Last One Hundred Years." Archaeological Journal, 2015, pp. 172, 273–296.
Yet the labeling of prehistoric technology has been limited and defined by what archaeologists could find in quantity -- i.e., what had survived the ravages of time, meaning stone tools, bronze implements, and iron implements while basket and fiber materials had for the most part decayed.
Nevertheless, it was obvious to everyone that stone tools, for example, were only the tip of the iceberg.
"In whichever way archaeological remains are interpreted, one must always be aware that the vast majority of the materials with which prehistoric people were surrounded and with which they worked is lost to us today. ...organic materials start to decay as soon as they are deposited in the ground."[7]
There are two reasons, according to Jim Adovasio, we don’t think of baskets or textiles when we think of the Stone Age. One is that stones and bones, being far more durable, are far more common at archeological sites than artifacts made of fiber. But the other reason, says Adovasio, an archeologist at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, is a bias on the part of archaeologists who study the era...Their emphasis has been on stone technology, large-animal hunting, and the accoutrements of machismo. Weaving isn’t as exciting as running around sticking things into mammoths.(Menon, Shanti. "The Basket Age." Discovery Magazine, January 1996 Issue, http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jan/thebasketage619)
FINDING A NEW NAME FOR THIS SUBJECT MATTER
Here is a definition of basketry from the Encyclopedia Britannica which I think is a good definition to work from.
Definition of basketry:Basketry: art and craft of making interwoven objects, usually containers, from flexible vegetable fibres, such as twigs, grasses, osiers, bamboo, and rushes, or from...synthetic materials.
The following definition I have proposed contains keywords I would like to use. So I suggest the term:
Woven-Fiber Technology
You will see that these terms are mentioned in the Britannica definition plus I have added the word technology.
When talking about the technology of a specific era, that era should be specified, such as:
Paleolithic Woven-Fiber Technology
Neolithic Woven-Fiber Technology
Ancient Woven-Fiber Technology
I have suggested the term "woven-fiber technology" as a name because it is short, clear, descriptive, and inclusive of a wide variety of fiber constructions. And it gets away from any negative connotations about baskets.
It also conveys much more information given the limited way that baskets are understood today. A woven-fiber technology can include baskets from very small to very large but also mats, clothing, storage chests, furniture, textiles, sacks, fish traps, nets, fences, thatched roofs, and even large grass houses and reed boats as I have described.
CONCLUSION
My specific suggestion for the name 'woven-fiber technology' is not important. What is important is to settle on a new name that can include all kinds of fiber weaving and that is considered a technology.
A proper name and terminology are essential if research into the origins and development of basketry is to advance.
____________________________________
AFTERWORD ABOUT THE ESPARTO INDUSTRY
The word 'industry' should also apply to basket weaving and woven-fiber technology but like the words technology and tool, this word is not associated with basket making even though there have been many such industries across the globe at different times.
Weighing esparto grass in Tripoli, North Africa.
Furlong, Charles Wellington. The gateway to the Sahara; observations and experiences in Tripoli. New York, C. Scribner's sons, 1909, p. 226.
GOOGLE SEARCH FOR 'INDUSTRY'
Search = "paleolithic basket industry"
No results found for "paleolithic basket industry".
Search = "paleolithic stone tool industry"
About 2,180 results.
What follows is one example of a 7000-year-old major basket industry that continues to evolve in Spain and North Africa. It is very interesting to note that according one author (below), Neolithic basketry was of a higher standard than modern products, showing that basketry had reached a high point in the Neolithic era, 7000 years ago.
This is only one example of a basket weaving industry. There were many others such as the bamboo basket weaving industries of Asia, the reed basket weaving industries of Mesopotamia, and the papyrus basket weaving industry of ancient Egypt.
THE ESPARTO BASKET WEAVING INDUSTRY OF SPAIN & NORTH AFRICA
This is a map of where esparto grew naturally in Spain and North Africa.
Numerous archaeological artifacts and remains of esparto basketry have been discovered that date from the Neolithic period and onwards in southeast Spain. THESE PIECES DEMONSTRATE HIGH STANDARDS OF QUALITY COMPARED WITH MORE MODERN PIECES. [ED: my emphasis] Among the abundant archaeological remains, some of the most outstanding are the artifacts dating back to 7,200 – 6,600 BP...in Cueva de los Murciélagos (Granada). These pieces represented clothes, hats, tunics, sandals, baskets, and ropes—all made with the finest techniques. In some cases, the artifacts included colored espartos.[8]
LEFT: A pair of esparto sandals from the Middle Neolithic made between 7200 and 6800 BP and found in the Cueva de Los Murciélagos (literally "Bats' Cave") near Granada Spain.
RIGHT: Traditional esparto espadrilles made today
At one time, esparto weaving was a dominant industry in some regions of the country [Spain] – particularly Murcia, Valencia and Andulucia.
Taste of Spain. http://www.thetasteofspain.com/spanish-customs-and-traditions/the-art-of-esparto-weaving/
"The decline of the esparto grass industry led to no little unrest among some of the native tribes of northern Africa."[9]
Commercial Geography by Jacques W. Redway
Quoted in: http://www.finedictionary.com/Esparto.html
This is an esparto canteen; the Spanish word for canteen is “calabaza” which is pre-Roman. This watertight esparto vessel is created with special tight weaves after curing the esparto grass for a month and then processing. Next it is sealed with pine tar that has to be carefully applied. This kind of canteen technology existed in Europe in prehistoric times and also with the hunter-gatherer Native North American Indians.
"Calabazas de esparto are an ancient part of the Spanish basketry and are part of the culture of Esparto, unique intangible heritage of the Western Mediterranean"
Fajardo, José; Verde,Alonso. "Calabazas de esparto."
Ethnobiology Sheet 14, Summer 2015.
Braun_D_R_and_Hovers_E_2009_Current_issu.pdf
__________________________________
FOOTNOTES
[1] Brown, Donald. Human Universals 1st Edition. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 1st edition (January 1, 1991)
Anthropologist Dr. George P. Murdock who developed the Cross-Cultural Survey also lists weaving as one of the four basic universal technologies in all cultures
Murdock, George P. "The Common Denominator of Cultures." The Science of Man in the World Crisis, edited by Ralph Linton, New York: Columbia University Press; 1945: pp. 123-142.
[2] Foxvog, Daniel A. Elementary Sumerian Glossary.
University of California at Berkeley, revised 2008.
SumerianGlossaryFoxvog.pdf
[3] Adovasio,J. M. Basketry Technology: A Guide to Identification and Analysis, Updated Edition 1st Edition. Routledge; 1st edition (April 22, 2019).
[4] Brown, Human Universals, 1991.
[5] Charles Singer, E.J. Holmyard, A.R. Hall. A History of Technology, Volume I: From Early Times to Fall of Ancient Empires. Oxford University Press, 1954. (Kindle location = 8905)
[6] Menon, Shanti. "The Basket Age." Discovery Magazine, January 1996 Issue, http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jan/thebasketage619
[7] Grömer, Dr. Karina. "An Introduction to Prehistoric Textiles" Brewminate.com, Natural History Museum, Vienna, March 01, 2016, https://brewminate.com/an-introduction-to-prehistoric-textiles.
[8] Rivera, Diego; Leopold, Susan; Verde, Alonso. "Traditional Craft Techniques of Esparto Grass (Stipa tenacissima L.) in Spain1." Article in Economic Botany, November 2015.
Fajardoetal_2015_EspartograssEconomicBotany.pdf
[9] QUOTED IN: http://www.finedictionary.com/Esparto.html
Redway, Jacques W. Commercial Geography. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907.
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