New Evidence: Basket Making May Have Begun 2 Million Years Ago

New Evidence Suggests
That Basket Making
May Have Begun 2 Million Years Ago

See the explanation below for more about this traditional water carrier.

ABSTRACT: Recent excavations at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Africa have revealed new information about some of the earliest hominins, probably Homo habilis, from 2 million years ago. For the purposes of this article, the main point is that these early humans walked 12 km or 7.5 miles to gather specific stones that they used for making Oldowan stone tools and for putting together a toolkit. And these specific stones made up the majority of stones found. They did this for several hundred thousand years. I argue that to do this, they probably had containers or early baskets to help them carry a large collection of stones back to their settlements, since walking that far would have been counterproductive if they only gathered a few stones. Next in this article, I show how very simple carriers could have been from natural plant materials, carriers that might have been like some of the earliest baskets.

See a listing of 14 blogs about basket weaving technology from its earliest stages in the Paleolithic era to its implementation in the world's first civilizations.

INTRODUCTION

An important archeological find has added hard evidence to the possibility that the origins of basketry may have begun 2 million years ago. 

Recently archaeologists determined that some early hominins (probably Homo habilis), about 2 million years ago in the now famous Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, made the same type of Oldowan stone tools for hundreds of thousands of years, even though the environment changed radically during that time. And the archaeologists were able to determine that the stones that were used to make the tools were found far from the hominins' settlement.

A close examination of the tools revealed that these hominins chose their rocks carefully for different purposes and in doing so created a toolkit of various implements. And even more surprising, they walked 12 km (7.5 miles) from their camp to find specific kinds of quartzite. Moreover, they found the majority of these stones by traveling this far. All of this implies planning and it also implies a fairly sophisticated knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation. 

So my observation is that if they were this smart, they probably made other things as well. And this is why early basketry or containers might be a part of the story. If they walked a distance to find certain stones, wouldn't they also have made some containers to carry the stones back?

LINKS AND QUOTATIONS
ABOUT THE ARCHEOLOGICAL FIND

The findings were summed up in this way:

"Early hominins succeeded by being generalists with basic, versatile tools."

(Arstechnica.com, 2 Million Years Ago)

Read the summaries of this study 

2-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in Tanzania

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/ewass-oldupa-stone-tools-09236.html

This Is How Hominins Adapted To A Changing World 2 Million Years Ago

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/this-is-how-hominins-adapted-to-a-changing-world-2-million-years-ago/

Read the entire original article

(a PDF download is also available at this site).

Earliest Olduvai Hominins Exploited Unstable Environments ~ 2 Million Years Ago

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20176-2

"The scientists also compared the chemical composition of the Ewass Oldupa tools [ED: the tools found in the excavation] and determined the MAJORITY [ED: my emphasis] of rocks used to make them had been obtained 12 km (7.5 miles) away from the site.

“This indicates planned behavior at an early stage in human evolution,” said co-author Julien Favreau, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Mcmaster University."

(Sci-news.com, 2 Million Years Ago)

"The oldest evidence we have for early human relatives at Olduvai Gorge is a handful of stone tools, made and used around 2.03 million years ago.

"They seemed to choose different materials—in some cases as specific as choosing slightly different types of quartzite from different outcrops—for particular tools. (A study last year also suggested that the earliest toolmakers in our family tree knew enough to choose their materials wisely.)"

(Arstechnica.com, 2 Million Years Ago)

THE ORIGINS OF BASKETRY

If these early hominins were this smart, they could have woven containers out of leaves, vines, grasses, and branches since these were the most available materials. Or they could have made pouches out of animal skins or made a carrying device with gourd-like plants. Or they might have made these carriers with a combination of techniques. 

Plus these containers or proto-baskets would have been part of the basic toolkit. They would have been one of the tools that worked alongside and complimented the other tools in the toolkit. 

I believe that prehistoric containers or baskets were tools, yet when I read about basketry, in particular, it is not usually characterized as a technology and individual 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 are essential and common to all cultures according to Dr. Donald Brown in his book Human Universals (1991).

In any case, these hominins needed a way to put together the many stones they had collected after walking 12 km and to carry them back when they made the return journey. 

It is also important to note that the plants for making baskets would have changed as the environment changed. While the types of stones hominins looked for would have remained the same, the plant life varied. But, as is well known, baskets can be made from a wide variety of local plants, so continuing to make baskets with different plants would not have been out of the question for this young technology.

EARLY BASKET DESIGNS AND TECHNOLOGY

There are many things in nature that could have sparked the imagination of early hominins to make or weave baskets such as various bird nests, spider webs, or a tangle of plant growth which demonstrates how interwoven branches and vines can be quite strong and resilient.

As I wrote in an earlier article, there is fossil evidence of Oldowan stone tools and weaverbirds remains, birds that made elaborate woven basket-like nests, that were found together in the Bed I layer at Olduvai Gorge. These bird nests could have provided a model for early baskets.

Paleolithic Evidence Shows That Homo Habilis
Could Have Learned Weaving From Weaverbirds (Ploceidae)

https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2019/10/paleolithic-evidence-for-early-weaving_27.html

A weaverbird nest (left) and a random weave basket (right).

NOTE: While the earlier find is consistent with the same general time frame as that of this recent archeological find, i.e., 2 mya, it is in a different area of the Gorge. Bird fossils were found at the Ewass Oldupa site where this study was done but unfortunately I cannot determine if they included weaverbirds.

"The concentration of stone tools and animal fossils (wild cattle, pigs, hippos, panthers, lions, hyena, primates, reptiles, and birds) at the Ewass Oldupa site are evidence that both human and animal life centered around water sources."

(Sci-news.com, 2 Million Years Ago)

THE FIRST CONTAINERS/BASKETS? 

While I believe that basic early basketry could have been learned based on observations by hominins of weaverbird nests, I also think that prior to that, simple proto-baskets could have been made. These baskets might have required only minutes to create and could probably have been made as needed while hunting or gathering. It may have only taken a few folds of large leaves, for example, or the intertwining of smaller leaves and branches to make a container.

"Traditional water container made from palm leaves from Camenaça / East Timor" (Commons.wikimedia.org)

This very simple water container (above) shows how easily a container or proto-basket could have been made. 

View the next video that shows how to make a cup that holds water that is made from a flat sheet of printing paper. Making such a cup takes about a minute. Something like this could easily have been made by Homo habilis from a large leaf or several leaves or other plant materials. These could have been modified to work as carrying baskets with a handle or straps to carry on the back or to hang from the shoulder.

 How To Make A Paper Cup That Holds Water (HD)  (1.5-minute video)

This recent archeological excavation found that palm trees were part of the changing environment at one time. Palm leaves are especially useful for making simple fast woven-fiber items.

“Our research reveals that the geological, sedimentary and plant landscapes around Ewass Oldupa changed a lot, and quickly,” the researchers said.

“Yet humans kept coming back here to use local resources for over 200,000 years.

“They used a great diversity of habitats: fern meadows, woodland mosaics, naturally burned landscapes, lakeside PALM GROVES,[ED: my emphasis] steppes.”

(Sci-news.com, 2 Million Years Ago)

The next video shows how to make a very simple but more advanced basket and uses standard basket weaving techniques. It uses paper strips and takes about five minutes to create. This use of strips is similar to basket-weaving with palm leaves detailed next.

Paper Weaving Basket (4-minute video)

This basket is created like the palm leaf basket next.

This next how-to video shows how to make a 'primitive' traditional basket. It is based on the same principles as the paper basket in the video above. It is strong and durable but not complicated and only takes minutes to make. 

How To Make A Primitive Basket (5-minute video)

A simple quick basket made from palm leaves.

Photo from the video of the finished basket.

Carrying basket of the Sherente people in Brazil.
National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. Collected in 1977. 
(Commons.wikimedia.org)

A basket that uses the basic simple weaving method shown above.

So as basket-weaving developed, Hominins might have used strips of palm leaves or other such plant material to make similar items, since one of their changing environments included palm trees. 

See the next set of pictures about karagumoy leaves in the Philippines that can be used to create strong but basic baskets. (Click on any picture to see the images as a 'slide show'.)

"Pandanus simplex is an economically important species of Pandanus (screwpine) (They are palm-like, dioecious trees) endemic to the Philippines. It is commonly known as karagumoy (also spelled karagomoy or karagomoi) or kalagimay. Its leaves and fibers are used widely in the Philippines for thatching, ropes, and weaving various traditional handicrafts like baskets and mats." (Wikipedia.com) (Commons.wikimedia.org)

CONCLUSION

But again, the key point is quite simple. Would these intelligent hominins spend a full day (round trip plus gathering) walking to a place 12 km away without having a container to help them carry back the stones that they had found? This does not seem likely.

So I believe this study now adds one more bit of evidence, to the many others I have written about in previous articles, that suggests that basketry may have begun quite early in the evolution of hominins.

_______________________________________________________

AFTERWORD

Instead of the "Stone Age," it might be more appropriate to describe earlier eras of human existence as also being in the "Basket Age." When basketry started is, of course, up for debate. It might have been in the Upper Paleolithic or the Lower Paleolithic, for example.

In earlier articles, I have made the point that for about 100 years archeological authorities held that basket-weaving was not possible before 10 - 15 kya, i.e., it was a technology of Neolithic agricultural societies. These authorities felt that basket-making would have been too demanding and time consuming for earlier hunter-gatherer societies. So this idea effectively prevented any explorations into the possibility of basketry in the Paleolithic era, the era of hunter-gatherers. Now, finally, that barrier has been disproved and it is clear that basket making did happen in at least the Upper Paleolithic and possibly earlier. I have written about this in detail in my series of articles about basket-weaving. 

See a full list of these articles:

https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

However, the question still remains, how long ago did basketry begin? The current thinking is that it probably began in the earliest part of the Upper Paleolithic or perhaps 40 - 50 kya. Yet I believe it could have happened much earlier, i.e., 2-3 mya or millions of years ago. The key point is this: Now that we know that basket-weaving was not incompatible with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and would have made a major survival difference, it could have begun with our earliest hunter-gatherer ancestors, Homo erectus or even Homo habilis. 

We humans have been hunter-gatherers for millions of years while agriculture has been around for only 10-20 thousand years and civilization for a mere 5 thousand years. When human-like creatures were just getting a foothold on survival millions of years ago, basket technology would have proven invaluable. It would have enhanced the ability to gather plants, collect fish, and carry various materials, for example. Plus these people lived in the natural world of plants and fibers -- the materials needed to make baskets, so it seems logical that they would have made carrying devices. 

The problem, of course, is that fibers decay and do not leave much evidence behind. But with modern forensics, we may be able to overcome this barrier such as looking at the microwear cutting patterns on Oldowan and Acheulean stone tools. 

It is important to note that two well-respected anthropologists came up with a list of cultural universals, i.e., attributes common to all cultures, which included several things that were consistent with the idea that early cultures could have made baskets. George Murdock in the book, The Common Denominator of Cultures in The Science of Man in the World Crisis (Edited by Ralph Linton, New York: Columbia University Press; 1945: 123-142) listed weaving, tool-making, and ethno-botany as common to all cultures. Donald Brown in his book Human Universals (1991), listed tool and tool making, cordage, and containers. 

In my past articles, I have listed over 20 facts that suggest basketry could have begun much earlier than previously thought. 

And if it turns out that basketry was practiced millions or hundreds of thousands of years ago, we might need to revise our ideas about early human technology. As an article in Discovery Magazine suggested, we may want to rethink our categories. Instead of characterizing these early hominin time-periods as only belonging to the "Stone Age" it might make sense to think of them also as belonging to a "Basket Age."

(Menon, 1996, The Basket Age)

    Free Download    
A PDF of this blog-article at: 
https://unc.academia.edu/RickDoble/DRAFTS#drafts

   ALSO FREE:   
 The Illustrated Theory 
 of Paleo Basket-Weaving Technology 
 by Rick Doble 
 Download a 200-Page PDF eBook 
 -- no ads/no strings -- 
 DOWNLOAD NOW 
  Figshare  
  Academia.edu  

_________________________________

Footnotes

Arstechnica.com. Smith, Kiona, author. "This is how hominins adapted to a changing world 2 million years ago: Early hominins succeeded by being generalists with basic, versatile tools." January 8, 2021. Accessed January 12, 2021.

<https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/this-is-how-hominins-adapted-to-a-changing-world-2-million-years-ago/>

Menon, Shanti. "The Basket Age." Discovery Magazine,  January 1996 Issue. Accessed January 12, 2021.<https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-basket-age>

Nature.com. Authors: Mercader, J., Akuku, P., Boivin, N. et al. "Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago." Nat Commun 12, 3 (2021). Accessed January 12, 2021. <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20176-2>

Sci-news.com (News staff). "2-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in Tanzania." Jan 11, 2021. Accessed January 12, 2021.

<http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/ewass-oldupa-stone-tools-09236.html>

Homo Habilis Learned Basket Making from Weaverbirds

Evidence That Paleolithic Hominins
Lived in Close Association
With Weaverbirds
and Their Basket Making Skills

Baobab trees in Tanzanian scenery.

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is simple. I will argue that early hominins, almost two million years ago, lived in close proximity to Weaverbirds who built elaborate nests. And because of this, it is probable that they learned initial weaving and knot making skills along with basket making, derived from the complex and well-constructed nests of these birds.
If this is true, then the origins of basket making and weaving began almost two million years ago instead of tens of thousands of years ago, as is currently believed. And this fundamentally changes the story of hominin technology which in turn affects the narrative of human evolution.
In this article, I cite specific scientific evidence, current mainstream thought and expert opinions to make my case.

See a listing of 14 blogs about basket weaving technology from its earliest stages in the Paleolithic era to its implementation in the world's first civilizations.

    Free Download    
A PDF of this blog-article at: 
https://unc.academia.edu/RickDoble/DRAFTS#drafts

   ALSO FREE:   
 The Illustrated Theory 
 of Paleo Basket-Weaving Technology 
 by Rick Doble 
 Download a 200-Page PDF eBook 
 -- no ads/no strings -- 
 DOWNLOAD NOW 
  Figshare  
  Academia.edu  

INTRODUCTION

"It is likely that many new Oldowan occurrences will be discovered in this century and that a range of new theoretical and methodological approaches will be applied to the earliest paleolithic record. These new lines of evidence should give us a clearer understanding of the complexity of the Oldowan archaeological record and a greater appreciation of the range of adaptive behaviors in the emergent tool-making and tool-using hominins that ultimately led to the modern human condition." (Schick/Toth,  35)

The purpose of this article is to cite scientific evidence plus generally accepted paleoanthropological thought and concepts to support the idea that hominins on the African savanna were in close contact with Weaverbirds almost two million years ago and that, as a result, hominins learned rudimentary basket, weaving and knot making skills.

This is important because it affected human evolution. As Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth pointed out, "It is likely that this phenomenon of accelerated brain expansion in the human lineage was due to the ability of hominins to access higher quality food resources through the use of technology, which allowed for a decreased gut size and increased brain size." (Schick/Toth,  35)

In this case, baskets, for example, would have allowed hunter-gatherers to collect and bring back greater amounts of food -- and greater amounts of quality food that grew far from their camp -- than was possible without baskets.

DIRECT EVIDENCE FROM THE PALEOLITHIC

Fossilized Weaverbirds (Ploceidae) Were Found In The Oldest Layer, Bed I Layer, At Olduvai Gorge

Fossilized Weaverbirds were found in the same layer as Oldowan stone tools, indicating that Homo habilis lived there during the same time period about two million years ago.

For a complete rundown of the evidence please read my blog:
https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2019/10/paleolithic-evidence-for-early-weaving_27.html

Earliest Evidence Of Humans Thriving On The Savanna

"Humans were living and thriving on open grassland in Africa as early as 2 million years ago, making stone tools...That’s according to powerful evidence from artifacts found at Kanjera south, an archaeological site in south-west Kenya."
"To investigate whether they were standing on the site of ancient grassland, Plummer’s team analyzed the ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 in the soil and in the tooth enamel of the fossilized animals. Grass has a higher ratio than trees and shrubs. Both the soil and the tooth enamel of fossilized animals had similarly high ratios."
“'These tests showed that the Kanjera site was over 75 percent grassland 2 million years ago and that the wider area was teeming with zebras, antelope, and other grazers,' says Dr. Plummer."
Barley, Shanta. "Earliest evidence of humans thriving on the savanna."
New Scientist, 2009, https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18018-earliest-evidence-of-humans-thriving-on-the-savannah/#ixzz6Iv2exzul
Accessed 4/7/2020.

EVIDENCE FROM CONTEMPORARY
HUNTER-GATHERERS

Contemporary Hunter-gatherers as Models for Paleolithic Behavior

"Using modern primates and hunter-gatherers [ED: such as the Hadza] as models, most paleoanthropologists believe the bulk of the diet of early hominin populations consisted of plant resources such as berries, fruits, nuts, leaves, pith, flowers, shoots, seeds, and gum, as well as underground resources such as roots, tubers, corms and rhizomes." (Schick/Toth,  31)

About The Hadza

"The Hadza’s homeland lies on the edge of the Serengeti plains...close to Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world, where Homo habilis – one of the earliest members of the genus Homo – was discovered to have lived 1.9 million years ago. Genetically...they are one of the ‘oldest’ lineages of humankind.They speak a click language that is unrelated to any other language on earth. [ED: It is considered a 'language isolate'.] "
THE HADZA
https://www.survivalinternational.org/galleries/hadza

While Toth and Schick mentioned fruits only in a general way, the following observers during the last century specifically mentioned Baobab fruit as being a major part of the Hadza diet.

Hadza Diet, Baobab Fruit, and Paleo-diet
At the end of the article entitled, "Why the Hadza are Still Hunter-Gatherers" is "Table 1. Descriptions of the Hadza through time." In these descriptions by ten different observers for about a century (1911- 2002) fruit from the Baobab tree was mentioned as a key part of their diet. Two other observers who did not mention the Baobab fruit specifically used only general terms for foraged food such as fruits. Also at the end of the article (Figure 2) a pie-chart stated that the Baobab fruit averaged 13.5% of the Hadza diet and honey averaged 21.4% of their diet -- the honey being most often found in crevices of the Baobab tree. (Marlowe, Table 1, Figure 2 )

"The Hadza of Tanzania are the world’s last full-time hunter-gatherers. They live on what they find: game, honey, and plants, including tubers, berries, and Baobab fruit."
Gibbons, Ann. "The Evolution of Diet." National Geographic,
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/
Accessed 4/7/2020.

In the following discussion of Oldowan tools and culture, Dr. Plummer makes the assumption that Baobab trees were part of the Paleo-landscape and uses the way of life of contemporary African Hadza hunter-gatherers to illustrate his points and to suggest that Homo habilis and/or Homo erectus may have done the same millions of years earlier. 

"Woody plants that are likely to have provided food to hominins (E.G., Adansonia digtata, Baobab, providing fruit...) are widely distributed across Africa today (O’Brien and Peters, 1999; Peters and O’Brien, 1994)." (Plummer, 123)

Both the fruit and the seeds in the fruit were/are important to the Hadza 

"The fruit and seeds from the Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) are important dry-season food for the Hadza (Schoeninger et al., 2001a). The fruit...provides energy as well as calcium and vitamin C. Seeds from the fruit are pounded into flour and when eaten provide a rich source of fat and protein (5 of 8 essential amino acids) (Schoeninger et al., 2001a)." (Plummer, 149)

"Data on Hadza ethnobotany not only provides invaluable and timely cross-cultural information on plant use, but also enhances our understanding of early hominin paleoecology." (Crittenden, 319)
"Baobab fruit (Adansonia digitata) is consumed throughout the year and comprises 14% of the annual diet. The fruit has an inedible hard, green outer shell that accounts for approximately 50% of the total weight of the fruit (Nour et al. 1980). The inside of the fruit is composed of approximately 15–20 seeds which are covered with dry, white, chalky pulp that may be consumed in four ways: (1) directly out of the shell, discarding the hard seed inside the pulp, (2) pounded into a flour, removing the seed husks by winnowing on the surface of small piece of animal hide, (3) combining the flour with water and/or berry juice to create a sweet paste, or (4) removing the intact seeds from the dung of baboons, sun drying, and then pounding into flour. The fruit pulp alone is low in fat, protein, and fibre whereas the pulp flour (seed and pulp combined) is relatively high in fat, protein, and fibre. The fruit pulp and pulp flour are both high in simple carbohydrates (Crittenden 2009)." (Crittenden, 322)

ABOUT BAOBAB TREES, HOMININS, & WEAVERBIRDS

About The Baobab Tree

The Baobab tree is remarkable, so much so I will devote an entire blog-post to this tree that played a key role in human evolution and survival. Suffice it to say, the trees were spread across the Paleo-savanna millions of years ago. The trees seemed permanent and stable to humans as many lived a thousand years or more and each large tree provided fruit, often honey, shade, and even shelter and water. And Weaverbirds often made the branches a place for their nests.

Baobab trees on the savanna.

Baobabs dotted the African savanna while our ancestors still lolloped along on four legs. The trees would have provided them with easily gathered fruit, while branches gave shelter from rain, sun and predators. As man gradually started to stand upright (some four million years ago), it freed up his hands to shape tools...
(Watson, Kindle Locations 64-72)
----------------------------------
The world of primitive African man spread as far as his furthest travels. The biggest thing that moved in it was the elephant, and the biggest living thing that didn’t was the Baobab. The trees were as near to permanent as any living thing could be. (Kindle Locations 64-72)
---------------------------------
Take away the Baobabs, and a whole community disappears with them. Shade, shelter, food, breeding places, hunting lookouts; the loss of a Baobab is much more than the loss of a tree. (Kindle Locations 1376-1387)

About Weaverbirds

Baobab tree with weaverbird nests.

"Three weavers regularly nest in Baobabs, while a few others occasionally do so.
Weavers that regularly breed in Baobab trees:
Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver Bubalornis niger
White-billed Buffalo-Weaver Bubalornis albirostris
Red-headed Weaver Anaplectes rubriceps"
Weavers Breeding In Baobabs. Weaver Watch, weavers.adu.org.za.
http://weavers.adu.org.za/spcat.php?spc=22
--------------------------
"Near human habitation Baobabs are occasionally taken over by...breeding colonies of Black-headed (or Village) Weavers, seeking their protection from predators by proximity to mankind."
(Watson, Kindle Locations 1371-1374)
--------------------------
"The Village Weaver inhabits bushy savanna...It is frequently associated with human habitation in west and central Africa."
Village Weaver Ploceus Cucullatus. Weaver Watch, weavers.adu.org.za.
http://weavers.adu.org.za/sp.php?spp=797

 Weaverbirds and a finished nest.

WHAT WEAVERBIRDS COULD HAVE 

SHOWED HOMININS

While all Weaverbird nests are well crafted and intricate, the Village Weaverbird nest is the best known and most widely studied. The birds use a variety of techniques and materials to do the job. Early hominins could have learned a number of techniques by observing Weaverbirds building nests and by studying abandoned nests that may have fallen to the ground or that may have been taken from the Baobab tree branches.

(Left) A Village Weaverbird makes a nest. (Right) Detail.

The following gives only the briefest overview of the complexity of a Village Weaverbird nest.

"The outer shell of the nest is woven by the male of long strips torn by him from the leaves of giant grasses or palms. The general external appearance of the nest...is ovoidal or kidney-shaped in form with a bottom entrance...Just within the roof of the external shell the male thatches a special ceiling of short, broad strips of grass leaves. The ceiling is not woven, and in some parts of Africa may be thatched of dicot leaves in addition to the use of strips of grass." (Collias/Collias, 571) "There are five stages to the building of the outer shell of the nest by the male: (1) initial attachment, (2) roof and egg or brood chamber, (3) antechamber, (4) entrance, and (5) entrance tube." (Collias/Collias, 573)

Example of Weaverbird knots.

"The Weaving of the Red-Billed Weaver Bird in Captivity."

(Friedmann, 363)

Weaverbird nests.

SUMMARY

-- Fossil evidence shows that Homo habilis and Weaverbirds lived during the same time period at Olduvai Gorge about two million years ago. Fossil evidence also shows that the savanna environment existed during the same time period.
-- Paleoanthropologists agree that early hominins probably ate fruit from the Baobab tree as a key part of their diet, as contemporary African Hadza hunter-gatherers do today.
-- This means that early hominins were often in the vicinity of Baobab trees.
-- Weaverbirds regularly nest in Baobab tree branches and often prefer to be close to humans there.
-- Therefore: Early hominins were familiar with Weaverbirds and the various nests that these birds made which makes it quite likely that hominins learned how to construct woven fiber containers based on the birds' examples. 

CONCLUSION

If it is agreed that early hominins lived in close proximity to Baobab trees, where Weaverbirds also nested, then many things follow from that association. I believe that early humans would have developed an early rudimentary form of basket making based on examples by Weaverbirds who lived in the branches above them. The birds would not only have shown them finished sturdy nests, but how to make these nests, and how to tie secure knots, which materials on the savanna to use, and how to process those materials. In addition, abandoned nests would have fallen to the ground and would have been used and examined.

Containers would have been so useful to hominins who walked upright and could carry these containers or baskets, that it seems unlikely they would not have developed such a technology. In his book, Human Universals Donald Brown lists containers as one of the eight universal technologies common to all cultures. Anthropologist Dr. George P. Murdock, who developed the Cross-Cultural Survey, lists weaving as one of the four basic universal technologies in all cultures.

Furthermore, the long-living Baobab tree with its remarkable resources gave hunter-gatherers a stable and predictable environment for generations, and that could be used most of the year if they moved from Baobab grove to grove as the Hadza do today. It is no wonder that this tree is called "The Tree of Life" in Africa.
From my point of view, this means that hominins, starting perhaps with Homo habilis, had the resources, the materials, the models, and even the instruction for basket making -- along with a degree of stability which allowed them to work on the time-consuming skills of basketry. 
My theory, however, does not end here. The sequential steps of processing, that basket making involves, led eventually to an understanding of linear time -- unique among the animals. I have written that processes such as basket making and stone tool making led to a sophisticated and unique understanding of time which allowed humans to plan and coordinate their activities. 

The Importance of Processes

in the Paleolithic Era

https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-importance-of-processes-in.html

AFTERWORD

One cannot overemphasize the importance of basket making which may have evolved into weaving. It is now assumed that textile weaving began thousands of years before the latest confirmed find of clay fragments that showed impressions of weaving that were dated at 27kya. These showed sophisticated weaving techniques that must have been developed thousands of years earlier. 

But whenever it started, it led to a nunber of complex and flexible technologies. By the Neolithic period shoes, clothes, baskets, fences, roofs, boats, and houses could all be made with a weaving and basket-like technology. For example, large round boats known as 'basket boats' were in use in the earliest days of the Sumerian civilization. 

Please see the following article for a full discussion of the above:

Evidence for a Basket Weaving

and Woven-Fiber Technology

in the Paleolithic Era

https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2019/09/evidence-for-basket-weaving-technology.html

And from its early beginnings basket making would have influenced technology, concepts, metaphors, and language. 

For example, at the Beyond the Basket conference in 2009, Mr, Heslop stated: “Beyond its practical uses, basketry has arguably been even more influential on our lives, since it relies on the relationship of number, pattern and structure."University of East Anglia. "Basket Weaving May Have Taught Humans To Count." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 June 2009. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604222534.htm>.

So it may have also led to an understanding of geometry as well as an understanding of the "grid." The avid basket makers, the Babylonians, were the first to divide the sky into sections based on the circle -- and then further divide the sky into hours, minutes and seconds -- the very first grid and the one that astronomers still use today. 

The later basic understanding of putting fibers or materials at right angles (the key to weaving) was a masterful insight that was critical. While the principle is simple and seems obvious, it was a construct of the human mind.

As the famous architect Antoni Gaudi said:

“There are no straight lines or right angles in nature.”

My guess and this is only a guess, is that basket making began in a fundamental form with Homo habilis or hominins of that time period. These early baskets were probably made with a 'random weave' which involved tangling strands of fibers together along with some basic knots learned from the Weaverbirds. This technique was used to make baskets for carrying berries and foraged food. The right-angle construction of warp and weft (or also called 'woof') which was part of weaving probably did not happen until much later, perhaps with Homo erectus as this would have been a major breakthrough.

_____________________________________________________________________________

WORKS CITED

Collias, Nicholas E. And Collias, Elsie C. "An Experimental Study Of The Mechanisms Of Nest Building In A Weaverbird." Auk. Vol. 79, The Auk: Ornithological Advances, 1962.

Crittenden, Alyssa N. "Ethnobotany in evolutionary perspective: wild plants in diet composition and daily use among Hadza hunter-gatherers." Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds, Hardy, Karen; Martens, Lucy Kubiak (Eds.). Oxbow Books, 2016.

Friedmann, Herbert. "The Weaving of the Red-Billed Weaver Bird in Captivity." Zoologica:. Scientific Contribution of the New York Zoological Society, Volume II, Number 16. The Society, The Zoological Park,, New York, 1922.

Marlowe, Frank. "Why the Hadza are Still Hunter-Gatherers." Ethnicity, Hunter-Gatherers, and the “Other”: Association or Assimilation in Africa, Sue Kent (Ed.) Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002, pp 247-275.

Plummer, Dr. Thomas. "Flaked Stones and Old Bones: Biological and Cultural Evolution at the Dawn of Technology." Am J Phys Anthropol. 2004;Suppl 39:118-64.

Schick, Kathy, and Toth, Nicholas. "THE OLDOWAN: Case Studies into the Earliest Stone Age."  Stoneage Institute Publication Series, Schick, Kathy and Toth, Nicholas (Eds.). Stone Age Institute and Indiana University, Stone Age Institute Press, 2006.

Watson, Rupert. The African Baobab. Penguin Random House South Africa. Kindle Edition.

Paleolithic Evidence for an Early Weaving Technology

Paleolithic Evidence Shows

That Homo Habilis 

Could Have Learned Weaving

From Weaverbirds (Ploceidae)

Additional Evidence That Basket Weaving 

May Have Begun in the Early Paleolithic Era 

INTRODUCTION

I have argued that basket weaving and a woven-fiber technology began very early, as early as Homo habilis or earlier, perhaps two million years ago. I have asserted this, in part, because these relatively intelligent creatures (Homo habilis or other hominins) who were walking upright, could have seen well-built birds' nests in their environment as a model for containers that they could make and use to carry large amounts of vegetables or fruit or fish with their free hands. 'Weaverbirds' or Ploceidae, common in Africa today, make the best-engineered nests which could have served as a model for early humans if fossil evidence could be found that confirmed they lived at the same time as early hominins.

See a listing of 14 blogs about basket weaving technology from its earliest stages in the Paleolithic era to its implementation in the world's first civilizations.

 

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SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE FOR 

AN EARLY WEAVING TECHNOLOGY

Around 2 million years ago at the famous Olduvai Gorge, the first stone tools made by hominins, known as Oldowan stone tools, were discovered in what has been designated as Bed I which is the oldest layer at the Gorge. Fossilized remains of Homo habilis (perhaps the earliest hominin) were also found. And in addition fossilized remains of weaverbirds (Ploceidae) were found in Bed I. Weaverbirds are known for their elaborate and well-engineered nests which they placed in the open, so they were clearly visible. This means that Homo habilis (and probably other hominins) could have been aware of the nest constructions of these birds and could have used both the shapes and the weaving techniques as models for their own woven objects such as baskets.

EVIDENCE

The Time Period For Oldowan Stone-Tool Making By Early Hominins

"For the period of human evolution between 2.5 and 1.5 million years ago, Oldowan lithic artifacts [ED: discovered in Bed I at the Olduvai Gorge] remain a primary indicator of human behavior." 
Reti JS (2016). "Quantifying Oldowan Stone Tool Production at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania." PLoS ONE 11(1): e0147352. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147352

About The Oldowan Stone-Tool Industry

"Such implements were made by early hominins (probably Homo habilis at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)."
Oldowan Industry, Prehistoric Technology. Encyclopaedia Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oldowan-industry. Accessed 10/26/2019. 

Fossilized Weaverbirds (Ploceidae) Found In The Bed I Layer At Olduvai Gorge

"Passeriformes are one of the most common groups at Olduvai during Bed I [my emphasis] (NISP: 3683 in Matthiesen, unpublished conference notes), with at least 11 families including ...the Ploceidae [ED: weaverbirds] (Brodkorb, 1985)..."
Prassack, Kari A., Pante, Michael C., Njau, Jackson K., de la Torre, Ignacio. The Paleoecology Of Pleistocene Birds From Middle Bed II, At Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, And The Environmental Context Of The Oldowan-Acheulean Transition. Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 120, July 2018, pp. 32-47. Accessed 10/26/2019. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10050429/1/Prassack%20et%20al%20Final%20Oct.pdf 

ABOUT WEAVERBIRDS

"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..."
"The History of Weaving". Wild Tussah, 2014. https://wildtussah.com/history-weaving-2/. Accessed 10/26/2019.

Weaverbirds build their nests out in the open, so early hominins or Homo habilis would almost certainly have been aware of them. 

"The weavers build their homes quite in the open where they can be seen of all men." 
"As a preliminary to the construction of the nest proper, the birds wrap a considerable amount of fibrous material around a chosen limb or frond...The small strips are not only wound round the branch but are plaited together so securely that it is impossible with ordinary effort to separate them." "In every large colony are found what look like unfinished nests--that do not in building get further than this perch or roost stage, looking, as Jetdon says, like an inverted basket with a handle." 
Wood, CA. "The Nest of the Baya Weaver Bird." The Auk, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul., 1926), pp. 295-302. Oxford University Press, DOI: 10.2307/4075422. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4075422

 A cluster of weaverbird's nests showing how visible they are/were.

"Weaver birds build exquisite and elaborate nest structures that are a rival to any human feat of engineering." 
"Having selected a good location for his nest, the weaver bird starts to loop and weave strands of grass or strips of leaves around the ends of one or two branches in a tree. Having created a looped basis for the nest body, the weaver bird then builds the hollow body before adding the tubular entrance last."
"Weaver Birds," Eden, UKTV, https://eden.uktv.co.uk/animals/birds/article/weaver-birds/. Accessed 10/26/2019.

"Weaver birds use a variety of plant materials to build their nests, including strips of grass, leaves, twigs and roots. A weaver bird has a strong, conical beak, which it uses to cut blades of grass that it will use in nest-building. The weaver bird can tie real knots in nest material with its beak and its feet."
Weaver Birds - Animal Facts, Ploceidae. AnimalFacts,https://www.animalfacts.net/birds/weaverbirds.html. Accessed 10/26/2019.

A Study In Cameroon Shows The Wide Variety Of Materials Used

"...plant-types on which weaverbirds were commonly observed nesting or picking nesting materials, oil-palm (22.9%), coco-nut (13.5%), maize (16.6%), Elephant-grass (10.7%), pear(8.5%), mango(9.4%) and plantain(10.0%)." 
Melle ekane Maurice, Nkwatoh Athanasius Fuashi, Viku Bruno Agiamte-Mbom, Tim Killian Lengha. "The nesting ecology of weaverbirds in Ekona farms, Southwest Region, Cameroon." International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology (IJEAB), Vol-2, Issue-5, Sep-Oct- 2017, ISSN: 2456-1878. Department of Environmental Science, University of Buea, Cameroon. http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijeab/2.5.29

 "Take a look at the knots the Red Headed Weaver can tie... 

Using his beak and feet! They seem rather complex not to mention strong."

One species of weaverbird uses, "...remarkable nest construction [; it is in the] behaviour of Malimbus Rubriceps in which nest material is “prepared” for use in building before the bird takes it to the nest." "The fabric of the nest is often remarkably strong and pliant."
Crook, John (2008). A Comparative Analysis of Nest Structure in the Weaver Birds (Ploceidae). Ibis. 105. 238 - 262. 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1963.tb02498.x. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1963.tb02498.x 

Building a nest from scratch (left to right).

Adding to the early structure.

A more advanced stage of the construction.

The finished bird's nest.

Detail of the above finished bird nest.

BBC VIDEO

BBC Home Making: Weaver Bird

"Probably one of the most complex and elegant bird nest 

is build by Weaver bird.....see it for yourself....."

HOMO HABILIS AND WEAVERBIRDS

These birds were quite clever and their construction methods were excellent models for hominins. Many anthropologists believe that early humans had the ability to imitate and to learn. If Homo habilis was good at imitation, then it is quite likely that they were able to imitate the designs and constructions they saw in nature. An early simple basket could have begun as a copy of a bird's nest.

Learning And Teaching Via Imitation

According to the Evolution of Culture, very few animals possess the ability to learn via imitation. But the genus Homo was/is one of them. (The Evolution of Culture, Volume 4. Linquist, Stefan, Editor. Rutledge, 2017.)

"The first obvious signs of imitation are the stone tools made by Homo habilis about 2.5 million years ago, although their form did not change very much for another million years. It seems likely that less durable tools were made before then, possibly carrying baskets, slings, wooden tools and so on." 
Blackmore, Susan. "Evolution and Memes: The human brain as a selective imitation device." Cybernetics and Systems, Vol 32:1, 225-255, 2001,Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA. 

Imitation And Homo Habilis

"In a study of teaching novices to produce Oldowan-like artifacts, Morgan et al. (2015) examined the premise that, in view of its probable social transmission, stone toolmaking spurred the evolution of teaching and language in our lineage..."They concluded, however, that Oldowan toolmaking may have depended on imitation and emulation (observational learning) for transmission among groups and across generations, which they refer to as “low-fidelity social transmission” and suggest this as a reason for the relatively low rate of change in the Oldowan over many hundreds of thousands of years, while contending that Acheulean technology may have required teaching or “proto-language.” 
Toth, Nicholas & Schick, Kathy (2018). "An overview of the cognitive implications of the Oldowan Industrial Complex, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa." 53:1, 3-39, pp 17-18. DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2018.1439558

"What was it these early stone-knappers knew that chimpanzees can't get?" Wynn asked. "I think one thing was that early hominids were much better at copying motor procedures — we can watch an individual perform a motor task and mimic it. Chimpanzees are terrible at that — they see a task and have to reinvent the wheel. This gets back to mirror neurons and the copying of behavior." Quotation from paleoanthropologist Thomas Wynn of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Choi, Charles. "Human Evolution: The Origin of Tool Use." LiveScience, November 11, 2009. https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html. Accessed 10/26/2019.

Since we know for certain that hominins could make stone tools, it is reasonable to assume that they could also create other objects as well. 

Therefore I believe it was virtually impossible for early hominins to have been unaware of the bird nests made by these birds and in addition, they probably observed the methods these birds used such as tying knots, splitting grass and using a variety of light fiber materials.

These nests not only served as examples and models for weaving and baskets, but the birds also showed hominins how to create such a structure. In the following picture gallery, you can follow how a bird starts with a few simple strands that are added onto until a large enclosed object is created. Today basket weavers call this a 'random weave' because there is not a basic overall structure, the way basket weaving is practiced today.

Weave A Basket Out Of Vines: 
The Random-Weave Technique

A complete tutorial from Mother Earth News

"Even first-timers can create intricate baskets with the random-weave technique."

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/weave-a-basket-zmaz93asztak

The weaverbirds offered Homo habilis a complete tutorial on fiber construction. Watching a bird making a nest showed exactly how to build such a structure. The birds found and used a mixture of light materials which they interwove into a strong and resilient object. They split fibers with their beaks and attached fibers using strong knots. So Homo habilis would have seen the steps it took to build, the materials needed, and the weaving techniques to hold it together in a solid structure. 

Occasionally these nests would fall to the ground so Homo habilis could have seen and examined these close up. It is also possible that Homo habilis was able to knock some of these down from the trees where they were hanging and used them for containers and baskets by themselves.

A nest that fell down. Notice the wide strands that were used to make the nest.

The Importance Of Walking Upright With Two Free Hands

Walking upright meant that early hominins such as Homo habilis had two free hands. It is logical to assume that baskets or containers would have been adopted early as they allowed hominins to carry more goods which would increase their chances for survival.

"The single most important physical specialization that our ancestors the australopithecines evolved was the ability, unique among mammals, to habitually walk on two legs. "Whether this adaptation was in response to the encroaching savannah, the need keep a cool head, or - more likely - to free up their hands, it happened millions of years before the sudden acceleration of our brain growth. When the weather became seriously worse 2.5 million years ago, their behaviour and physical form were appropriate for the next step. Their hands were free, their head was smart and cool, and their intelligent, cooperative exploitation of a wide range of foods, including meat, was still the rule. The dry climate merely turned up the selective pressure on the savannah primates to make the best of diminishing vegetable resources..."
Oppenheimer, Stephen. "Origins." Extract taken from 'Out of Eden' 2003. Bradshaw Foundation. Paleoanthropology, http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/origins_big_brains.php.www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins. Accessed 10/26/2019.

"In The Descent of Man, Darwin (1871) explained that hominids started walking on two legs in order to use their hands. He states in his book, ‘However, the hands and arms could hardly have become perfect enough to have manufactured weapons, or to have hurled stones and spears with a true aim, as long as they were habitually used for locomotion.’ 
"Some might acknowledge that the evolution of bipedalism is responsible for the supposed superiority of humans as compared with other animals, because it permitted the manipulation of nature at will."
Ko, Kwang Hyun. "Origins of human intelligence: The chainof tool-making and brain evolution." ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS 22 (1): 5–22. ISSN 1408-032X. Slovene Anthropological Society 2016. 

Baskets Are Tools

"Tools may have allowed hominids to be more adaptable, extract food from a greater range of areas." Quotation of Thomas Plummer, paleoanthropologist at Queens College, New York. 
Choi, Charles. "Human Evolution: The Origin of Tool Use." LiveScience, November 11, 2009. https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html. Accessed 10/26/2019.

If Baskets And A Woven-Fiber Technology Are Also Seen As Tools 

(Along With Stone Tools) It Might Explain Gaps In Our Understanding Of Evolution

"Tools are the products of our brains, and we have millions of stone tools," Wynn added. "What we need are more creative ideas on how to extract understanding from them, and what they tell us about our evolution." Quotation from paleoanthropologist Thomas Wynn of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Choi, Charles. "Human Evolution: The Origin of Tool Use." LiveScience, November 11, 2009. https://www.livescience.com/7968-human-evolution-origin-tool.html. Accessed 10/26/2019.

AFTERWORD

However, I also argue that this did not lead directly to basket weaving as we know it today but rather baskets that were made with a "random weave" which is more in keeping with the bird nest model, as mentioned earlier. 

And while basket making probably did develop, the baskets might have been quite simple.

Simple Timor basket for drinking.

Simple basic basket with narrow strands. 

Simple basket made with wide strands.

Making a Primitive basket | How to make a primitive basket

"This basket made from palm leaves.

Easy to make and easy to use from your survival time.

Basket is essential when you bring something small size.

In this video I show the perfect and easy way to make a primitive basket."

I believe that random weave basket making and simple basket construction may have continued for a million or more years. 

Then perhaps after a million years hominins (possibly Homo erectus) began to understand the power of the right-angle weaving design in which one set of fibers was placed at right angles to another set of fibers or one set of tree branches was placed at right angles to another set of branches. This discovery was remarkable because this structure was not common in nature.

“There are no right angles in nature.” 

Antoni Gaudi, architect.

The discovery of right-angle structure was one of the most important discoveries ever made. Today, for example, the framing in modern skyscrapers is constructed using the same basic horizontal and vertical design.

A spider web may have been an inspiration for weavers. 

Here is a traditional basket as seen from the bottom showing its similarity to a spider web.

This fundamental and crucial idea of right angles gave objects both strength and flexibility. The inspiration for this innovation could have been gleaned from spider webs that are constructed in this manner. 

As I pointed out in my previous blog, this simple idea eventually led to the construction of not just a huge variety of baskets, but a slew of objects from small to large, from sandals to boats and houses. And it is the fundamental structure of all fabrics and clothing. Of course, we know this happened, however, we just don't know when it began and how long it took to develop.

When there were a lot of processes, such as weaving,
and those processes became complicated, 

I believe this resulted in the beginnings of a fully developed language. See my blog.

The Origins of Language: 

When, Why and How

https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-origins-of-language-when-why-and-how.html