Showing posts with label right-angle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right-angle. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Oldest wooden structure found in Zambia

The Oldest Man-Made
Wooden Structure
Found in Zambia
& 
The Ideas of Rick Doble
who predicted the use of right-angle structures
in the Lower Paleolithic
by Rick Doble

NEW DIRECT EVIDENCE MAY CHANGE THE STORY OF PALEOLITHIC TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN EVOLUTION 
This discovery supports the ideas, theories, and predictions of author, Rick Doble, in this eleven-year-old blog DeconstructingTime.

This discovery is:
-- a half-million-year-old wooden structure of carefully made interlocking logs built by early humans before our species, Homo sapiens. Archaeologists think it may have been a platform that was used to keep material dry above the wet ground. It was reported on September 20, 2023 in the journal Nature.

"Structural unit formed by two overlapping logs 
The underlying log passes through a central notch cut into the upper log ...and extends into the section. Plan view of the unit (left) and during excavation (right). The numbers refer to the distance in centimetres."

THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS DISCOVERY
It would be hard to overestimate the importance of this find. 
It is actual wood from the oldest wooden man-made structure that has ever been found.
#1. It is direct evidence of woodwork which has been almost impossible to find due to the fact that wood decays and leaves no trace.
#2. This artifact can be studied for the tools that were used to make it and the way the wood was cut from a specific kind of tree, and then scraped, shaped, and notched.
#3. Much can be inferred about the cognitive abilities of these pre-Homo sapiens because they imagined a design and then engineered a structure.
#4. Using state-of-the-art technology, it was carefully dated by a highly respected team of archaeologists to be at least 476,000 years old meaning that it was made by hominins who preceded our species, Homo sapiens. This means that hominins who came before Homo sapiens were much more intelligent than previously thought and had developed cognitive skills along with woodworking skills.

"Annotated images of the...upper log...showing areas of intentional modification.
From left to right, the location of the central notch in profile, shaping marks in and on the margins of the notch (a–k), the notch in profile from the opposite side. The image on the right shows the upper surface of the log, and the three parts of the log (1–3) separated by cracks. White arrows indicate locations of shaping facets on the sides and upper surface of the log. "


A SUMMARY OF HOW THIS DISCOVERY
SUPPORTS DOBLE'S IDEAS
ABOUT THE PALEOLITHIC ERA

Starting in 2014 I have written articles stating that:
-- Early hominins such as Homo erectus were much smarter than previously thought.
-- A well-developed plant material and fiber technology was probable with these early hominins.
-- They had some early stages of cognitive development.
-- An early sense of linear time was also developing as that allowed them to work with processes that required linear thinking. Processes require a step-by-step way of working from imagination to the final product. A process is itself linear.
--  The importance of right-angle construction by early hominins has been made evident by this discovery of two logs notched together at a right angle. I have written several articles asserting the critical importance of the right angle in early designs and structures.


DOBLE'S IDEAS AND THIS NEW DISCOVERY

This discovery supports and is consistent with my ideas throughout this blog but especially in my article "Terra Amata:...
the Oldest Paleolithic Building Site." that was published in this blog in 2021. 
See my article:
Terra Amata: the Oldest Paleolithic Building Site (December 2021)

The Terra Amata building site was indicated by post holes and is considered to be about 300kya. In my article, I make observations about Terra Amata that would also apply to this new half-million-year-old direct evidence discovery. I said that building a structure would have required advanced cognitive skills to design and plan along with cooperation and coordination among tribal members. The Terra Amata building site showed that pre-Homo sapiens, probably Homo erectus, were much more intelligent than previously thought and probably had also developed an advanced plant material or woven-fiber technology.

Both structures show an understanding of opposing forces. In the case of Terra Amata leaning poles were set against opposite opposing poles to make a hut. In Zambia, the structure showed a log that was carefully made with a notch that was placed at a right angle to another log. 

In my Terra Amata article and others in this blog, I have stressed the importance of the right angle and how it may have been a major discovery among early prehistoric people, an abstract structural principle that early hominins understood. This principle could have been used in basket making and other woven-fiber constructions as well as large structures.

This is a reconstruction of one of the 300,000-year-old Terra Amata huts in the Prehistoric Village of the Gorges du Verdon Museum in Quinson, France. The museum states, "The habitats [in their prehistoric village] have all been reconstructed based on research and observations by archaeologists. They are maintained by the museum's scientific team."

In both cases, the sophisticated use of wood where trees were cut down, trimmed, and shaped suggests that other plant materials such as fibers were probably used as well. I have proposed a theory that a woven-fiber technology or a technology based on basket weaving probably began among early hominins.

ABOUT RIGHT-ANGLE STRUCTURES
I consider the understanding of right-angle construction to be a major breakthrough for designing and creating a host of items. Since the logs were notched and deliberately placed at a right angle this discovery appears to support my idea.

MY ARTICLE
The Invention of Right-Angle Construction in the Paleolithic Era: Including a picture essay that illustrates the capabilities of right-angle woven-fiber technology and basketry
(August 2020)


HOW THIS AFFECTS MY NEW THEORY OF BASKET WEAVING OR WOVEN-FIBER TECHNOLOGY IN THE PALEOLITHIC

I have hypothesized that there was a plant-based technology developed by early hominins starting as early as several million years ago. Specifically, I proposed that a rudimentary basket weaving and woven fiber technology would have been possible among early hominins. 

This new discovery makes this idea much more probable. If hominins were making sophisticated wood structures a half million years ago, it is likely that plant technology had its beginnings hundreds of thousands of years before that. 

Virtually all anthropologists believe that early hominins used plant and fiber materials but disagree about the specific way they were used. I have proposed a basket weaving technology based on weaving fibers that could have started among the earliest hominins. And, of course, other uses were possible as well.

MORE ABOUT THIS NEW DISCOVERY

Buried in wet ground, archaeologists found the oldest known wooden structure that is about half a million years old (at least 476,000 years old). It was found near a river on the border of Zambia and Tanzania. Wood normally decays quickly and leaves no trace, but in this case, the logs were waterlogged which preserved them. Two logs were cut, scraped, and shaped and then joined at a right angle with a notched fitting. Because this structure is so old, older than the first evidence of our species, Homo sapiens, it must have been made by an earlier hominin such as Homo erectus. The researchers speculated that it was part of a platform that was used to keep materials dry above the wet environment. The highly respected team of archaeologists used state-of-the-art technology to date this 'platform'. This discovery is direct evidence of intelligence and cognitive skills by early humans. Until now it was assumed that early hominins were not very smart.

“It’s completely changed my view of what people were capable of that time,” said Duller, coauthor of the study, in the article in the journal Nature. 

"They used their intelligence, imagination, and skills to create something they'd never seen before, something that had never previously existed," Larry Barham, the lead researcher and a professor at the University of Liverpool who was quoted in this BBC report.

UNDERSTANDING EARLY HOMININ COGNITIVE THINKING

While it seems simple to us, the steps involved are mind-boggling when considering the invention of this construction by early hominins with smaller brains.

The 'platform' (if it was a platform) was designed to serve a purpose. No one knows the exact purpose but archaeologists guess that it could have been used to keep material dry above the damp ground. While we do not know the exact purpose, it does not matter when thinking about their cognitive skills. Whatever the specific purpose, there was a purpose and this purpose only makes sense if they had a sense of time. They needed to remember the past and how the environment operated over time with a periodically wet floodplain -- so the platform would function within that environment. Next, they needed to imagine a design which would satisfy that purpose. Such imaginative thinking required a sense of future time. Then they needed to plan and make tools for this work. After that, they cut down trees to obtain wood that had the right properties. Finally, they shaped the logs and notched them (like Lincoln Logs as one researcher said) so they would fit at a right angle. Right angle structures are quite strong but they do not exist in nature, so their cognitive skills had grasped a basic structural principle.
“I never would have thought that pre-homo sapiens would have had the capacity to plan something like this,” remarked Professor Barham who was a co-author of the study and who was quoted in this Smithsonian Magazine article.

HOW DOES THIS SUPPORT DOBLE'S IDEAS
ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF TIME COMPREHENSION?

As you know this blog is about the 'Human Understanding Of Time' (HUT). It is my contention that the concept of time as we think of it today developed over millions of years from the immediacy of animal existence to our current concept of linear time today which has a past, present, and future plus duration. In this case, half a million years ago, these early humans appear to have had a sense of linear time when planning a task, otherwise, they could not have designed and built this 'platform'. They understood a need based on past experience, then imagined a design to meet that purpose, gathered the material, and then shaped and constructed it. This was a linear process that required a basic understanding of linear time.

However, having a basic sense of linear time does not mean that they understood time as we think of it today. It means, I think, they understood that a task or a process would require linear thinking.
"Man must have been conscious of memories and purposes long before he made any explicit distinction between past, present, and future."
Whitrow, Gerald. Time in History: Views of Time from Prehistory to the Present Day. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press. 1988, pages 21-22.
MY ARTICLE
The Importance of Processes in the Paleolithic Era
(November 2019)
View or download a PDF on the academic site Academia.edu

AND MORE
One of my main themes has been, that early humans, i.e., hominins, were much smarter than previously thought. I believe they used the technology they had to the nth degree and that they were creative and inventive. 

SEE THE AFTERWORD: MODERN-CENTRIC THINKING
"I would say we need to consider these humans as having the ability to abstract forms from the environment and make them happen, and to pass [that knowledge] on through generations," said Professor Larry Barham. "And that's opened my mind to these pre-sapiens hominins being capable of what we would think of as quite complex behavior."
Quoted in the NPR article.

THE ORIGINAL NATURE ARTICLE
Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago. L. Barham, G. A. T. Duller, I. Candy, C. Scott, C. R. Cart wright, J. R. Peterson, C. Kabukcu, M. S. Chapot, F. Melia, V. Rots, N. George, N. Taipale, P. Gethin & P. Nkombwe. Nature, 20 September 2023. 
ONLINE
PDF

A GOOD BRIEF EXPLANATION
World's oldest wooden structure defies Stone Age stereotypes.
Gabriel Spitzer, September 22, 2023.


OVERVIEWS OF RICK DOBLE'S IDEAS

Should "The Stone Age" Be Called "The Stone and Basket Age?"
View or download a PDF on the academic site Academia.edu


Rick Doble's Theory About The Human Understanding of Time (HUT)
View or download a PDF on the academic site Academia.edu

_________________________________________________________

AFTERWORD 


EARLY HOMININS DEVELOPED ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES CONTRARY TO  MODERN-CENTRIC THINKING

This next article of mine makes the argument that Paleolithic people developed a sophisticated woven-fiber technology, an idea that, until now, has not been accepted by anthropologists.

The Development of Advanced Woven-Fiber Technology in the Paleolithic Era: Insights from Paleo-Indian Artifacts and Ethnoarchaeology By Rick Doble  (January 2022)


FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE
It is my contention that by the Upper Paleolithic, many technologies were quite advanced. In particular, basket weaving or woven-fiber technology had reached a high point of development. There is clay impression evidence of a variety of basket weaving techniques that had been mastered along with other evidence about the manufacture of cordage and the beginnings of textiles. This knowledge and these skills were then passed on to Neolithic cultures who were able to make full use of these technologies in their sedentary and agricultural societies. 

STONE AGE PEOPLE WERE INTELLIGENT AND KNOWLEDGEABLE
Almost ten years ago in 2014, I wrote two detailed blogs about the modern attitude toward ancient people, especially Stone Age people. Here is an excerpt. I listed many more biases so click on the links and read both articles.

The Moderncentric Bias Against Prehistoric Cultures: Part 1
(March 2014)

The Moderncentric Bias Against Old Stone Age Societies: Part 2 (April 2014)

BIAS #1:
OLD STONE AGE PEOPLE WERE BARBARIC SAVAGES
I believe the loaded words 'savage,'  'barbaric,' and 'caveman' are a kind of name-calling with little substance. Stone Age people had a sophisticated knowledge of their world. They studied and understood in-depth a number of things that we modern people are ignorant about.

“Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.”
Benjamin Franklin
An example of skilled hunter-gatherer and early Neolithic basketry (detail on the right) found in the Cueva de los Murciélagos in southeast Spain (Andalucía, Albuñol). Recently these many baskets and woven items were found to be 2000 years older than previously believed indicating that some were made by European hunter-gatherers. These artifacts showed that hunter-gatherers were capable of well-made basketry accomplished with highly sophisticated woven-fiber technology.



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Friday, August 14, 2020

The Invention of Right-Angle Construction in the Paleolithic Era

The Invention
of Right-Angle Construction
in the Paleolithic Era

Including a picture essay that illustrates
the capabilities of right-angle woven-fiber technology and basketry.
Click on any picture to see the images in slideshow fashion.

ABSTRACT:
We live in a world of right-angle structures. Cloth is made this way, as is furniture, homes, and even skyscrapers. In fact, they are just about everywhere in the modern world. Yet right-angle construction is a human invention and not natural. Nevertheless, there has been virtually nothing written about this important discovery. When early humans began to understand the power of this concept, it was a major advance in their technology. When applied to basket weaving and related crafts, it led to the development of hundreds of products. It gave human-kind a powerful tool that helped them survive and prevail and eventually build civilizations.

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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 
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  Academia.edu  



INTRODUCTION
Ironworkers (as these skyscraper workers are called) having lunch on a horizontal crossbeam supported by vertical steel columns 840 feet up. Modern steel-framed construction uses horizontal beams and vertical columns at right angles to build today's highrise and skyscraper buildings. This picture is from the construction of Rockefeller Plaza in 1932 in New York City. Below the ironworkers is the entire city built with right-angle construction.
Clyde, Charles."Lunch atop a Skyscraper." New York Herald-Tribune, published Oct. 2, 1932.


In the distant past, early humans made a major technological breakthrough that has been overlooked. It is something that we use every day and that in many ways has built the modern world. Because it is everywhere, it seems natural; however, it is anything but. I am talking about right-angle construction -- the structure that is at the heart of weaving and textiles and the clothes you wear, the furniture you sit in and at the center of a skyscraper's construction and even your own home. 

I tried to research this idea and could find almost nothing that dealt with this technology as an invention and discovery that humans had made.

(Left) Painting of Archimedes in deep thought. 
(Right) Detail of painting showing right-angle square tool.
Archimedes of Syracuse contemplates the properties of the right angle. Archimedes is considered one of the greatest scientific thinkers; he was an ancient Greek mathematician, engineer, and inventor.
Painting by Domenico Fetti. "Archimedes Thoughtful." 1620.

“There are no...right angles in nature,” 
Antoni Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect declared.

Square (Tool). A square is a basic and essential right-angle tool used in construction. Carpenters and builders use it to ensure the accuracy of construction right angles and it is also used for marking lines on materials before making a cut. It is so fundamental it is often used in heraldry and on construction logos.

While Gaudi's declaration is an overstatement, as some trees grow straight up, perpendicular to the ground, and we as humans generally walk at right angles to the earth, natural right-angle complex structures are almost non-existent. In particular, I am talking about interlocking, interwoven perpendicular structures that do not occur in nature but which humans construct.

(Left) Steel-framed construction showing the basic right-angle skeleton structure.
(Right) A modern complex built using right-angle steel-framed construction.
Most modern highrise and skyscrapers are built using steel-framed construction. A horizontal and vertical steel skeleton is built which is strong enough to support the windows, floors, and walls. 


ABOUT RIGHT-ANGLE CONSTRUCTIONS

At some point in the past, humans realized that fiber items made with a right-angle design were strong, durable, and flexible. Moreover, they could be easily made with local plant materials. 
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. 
This was a major advance in human technology. When and how this happened is open to debate. But that it did happen is undeniable and most important.

While a number of developing skills may have contributed to this technology, my guess is that basket weaving was one of the major areas where this insight was both discovered and implemented.
"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?" 

HOW WAS RIGHT-ANGLE CONSTRUCTION DISCOVERED?

The discovery or invention of right-angle construction must have been preceded by an earlier woven-fiber technology. I have again searched the Internet and could only find vague references to the origins of basket weaving or woven-fiber technology, as I have called it, such as the following quote.
"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.
If weaving was inspired by nature, the origins of weaving may have begun as follows:

It has been well established [1] that early hominids spent a good deal of time around baobab trees on the savannas of Africa. This tree was also used by weaverbirds who built elaborate nests. So, as I have written, it seems quite likely that at some time in the past, hominids learned how to weave by watching weaverbirds build their nests and by observing the completed nests and handling abandoned nests when they fell down.

Just how much could early hominids have learned from the weaverbirds and their skills at nest building? Quite a lot.

Weaverbirds building nests. 
(Left) A male bird working to complete a nest.
(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].

Two random weave baskets. Photos and baskets by Nan Bowles.

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.

(Left) A fallen abandoned weaverbird nest.
(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.

Master craftsmen, at different stages, weaving baskets and other 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.

This photo shows the huge variations possible with even a simple basket design.

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.

SCALABLE: Many right-angle woven-fiber designs can be made 
in a wide range of sizes
(Left) Small Neolithic baskets, about 5000 years old. They were found in a dry cave, Cueva de los Murciélagos (Albuñol, Granada), which is why they are so well preserved.
(Middle) Working medium-sized traditional panniers baskets on a donkey (the second basket is not visible on the other side of the donkey).
(Right) Large baskets in a boat, ready to be filled with grain.

VERSATILE: Right-angle woven-fiber technology can create a large number 
of shapes and configurations
(Left) A wicker sewing basket.
(Middle) A rattan chair.
(Right) Walls in Swaziland, Africa.

VOLUME: Items can be produced in large quantities.
(Top) Sandal Maker, Tomb of Rekhmire, Egypt, about 3500 years ago, This is a facsimile from a wall painting.
(Bottom) A pair of ancient sandals made from the papyrus reed and from about the same time period as the painting above. These were made in quantity.

A VARIETY OF DESIGNS TO ACCOMPLISH A TASK: FISH TRAPS
(Top Left) A traditional basket for gathering snails in Southern Spain.
(Top Right) Fish Trap, Aitutaki (Cook Islands)
(Bottom Left) Braided fish trap.
(Bottom Right) "Bamboo fish pot or trap in general use in Porto Rico."


WATERCRAFT

---- Basket Boats (Coracles) ----
These boats are based on a basket-like structure that is then covered with animal hides and sealed with waterproofing materials such as bitumen which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia. These boats are quite seaworthy and have been used throughout the world for thousands of years. They are light and strong and can be made in a wide range of sizes from small boats for an individual sailor to ones capable of carrying five tons.
Coracles have been used in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland for centuries and are still in use today. One person can easily carry a light coracle on his back and take the boat to a lake or river.

(Left) The basket structure of this boat is visible.
(Right) Large basket boats can carry twenty people.

---- Rafts ----
The right-angled horizontal crossbeams hold a raft together and are the basis for its integrity. As these pictures show, it does not matter if the raft is small or large.
(Top) Children on a raft -- the crossbeams are clearly visible and keep the raft together.
(Bottom) A common working bamboo raft in Taiwan. The horizontal right-angled slats are visible.


This model of a balsa raft is a model of a traditional Peruvian raft, sailed by pre-Columbian people, as drawn by the Spanish around 1600. The raft is made of large balsa logs and is a "double-decker" in that there are two levels that are held together by horizontal bamboo crossbeams that are lashed to the vertical balsa logs and the deck above. This design was the inspiration for the famous South American raft, Kon-Tiki.

---- Reed Boats & Ships ----
Reed boats are made by bundling and tying reeds together in columns and then securing them with right-angle horizontal binding. Common in Egypt and Sumer/Babylon, they were made of marsh reeds in Babylon and papyrus in Egypt. As with other boats in this section, they can be quite small for an individual sailor or sixty feet long with a crew of eleven as was the case with the reproduction of an ancient Mesopotamian boat seen below.

(Top) A small reed boat. 
(Bottom) Named the Tigris, this is a model of the Mesopotamian reed boat built by Thor Heyerdahl of Kon-Tiki fame. He believed that a boat similar to this had been used in the early days of the Sumerian/Babylonian civilizations. The Tigris was almost 60 feet long, had a crew of eleven, and sailed more than 4,000 miles without any serious problems.

In these ancient depictions, the right-angle cross-weaving is evident for these reed boats. 
(Top) This image clearly shows that the Mesopotamian boats used a right-angle cross-weaving in their boats. The drawing is after an ancient bas-relief from Nineveh Babylon dated to about 600 BCE. This was one of the pictures that inspired Thor Heyerdahl to build the Tigris.
(Bottom) The cross-weaving is also evident in this image of an Egyptian boat more than 2500 years ago.


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. 


Traditional African Huts
(Top Left) "Frame slats of a Swazi hut, at a cultural village at Jeppes Reef border post."
(Top Right) A rural hut inside the Zululand Museum, showing the basic structure, over which a covering is placed.
(Bottom Left) "The replica Zulu Hut at the Voortrekker Monument is typical of the dwellings found in Zululand, which were traditionally constructed by men."
(Bottom Right) A traditional African hut.

 

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 ----

Early Neolithic houses in Europe.
(Top) Archeon Museum Park, Netherlands "showing a replica of a house 8000 years BC."
(Bottom) "Stone Age village of Kussow, Damshagen municipality, Germany."


LATER NEOLITHIC BUILDINGS 
WITH FULL RIGHT-ANGLE ENGINEERING

(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 of Lakeside Neolithic settlement in Dispilio, Greece.
(Right) Archeoparc, Germany (Schnals valley/South Tyrol). Reconstruction of a neolithic hut.

---- Neolithic Looms ----

(Left) Reconstruction. "Neolithic loom, Vinca, Serbia."
(Right) "Cucuteni Vertical Loom Reconstruction Piatra nNamt."

Textiles were invented using the same structure. The famous Anni Albers of the Bauhaus School had this to say.

"During the 4,500 years or, in some estimates, even 8,000  years [ED: there is now concrete evidence that it is at least 27,000 years old] that we believe mankind has been weaving, the process itself has been unaffected by the various devices that contributed to greater speed of execution. We still deal in weaving, as at the time of its beginning, with a rigid set of parallel threads in tension and a mobile one that transverses it at RIGHT ANGLES. [ED: My emphasis]"

This basic insight about right angles has never been overshadowed. Anni Albers went on to say, "And weaving, even the most elaborate, can be done, given time, with a minimum of equipment....Fabrics of great accuracy have been executed without much mechanical aid."


WHEN DID THE DISCOVERY OF RIGHT-ANGLE CONSTRUCTION TAKE PLACE?

Right-angle design was probably discovered by basket-weaving craftsmen or was discovered in other technologies as well and then applied to basket weaving. In any case, basket weaving made full use of it.

Nevertheless, it may have taken thousands of years to derive a general principle that could be applied to a number of different weaves, different materials, strands of different gauges, different sizes, different uses, etc. Inventing something original from scratch would not have been easy. For example, with a basket, the forces are intertwined together, but in a building, the additional force of gravity is a key element even though the basic structure is similar. 

It is also important to note that working with baskets and weaving patterns and styles would have allowed people to 'play' with these structures. Playing with inventions is important just as it is with children. Overtime a general understanding might have emerged. I assume that it was not mathematical as we would know it, but perhaps proto-mathematical in which strands of different strengths and thicknesses were put in 'opposition' to each other, for example. 

Yet making baskets was one thing, and building larger items was something quite different, i.e., designing such things as walls or roofs and boats. This again would probably have taken thousands of years. 


A BASKET-WEAVING TIMELINE?

I think it is very unlikely that sophisticated right-angle basket weaving began by itself and did not evolve from something earlier. But because woven-fiber constructions decay, they have left little evidence; as one paleoanthropologist wrote, their past existence is invisible [3] -- for the most part (more about trace evidence in a future article.)

Nevertheless, another anthropologist has asserted that what we have found so far -- i.e., artifacts that have survived such as stone tools -- are only about 10% of the tools and items that were made and used in Paleolithic cultures.[4]

While microscopic trace evidence on stone tools has shown wear patterns that were caused by cutting plants and wood, this is about the only direct evidence we have. We might be forced to use other means such as computer simulations or simple logic.

SUMMARY OF A POSSIBLE TIMELINE
For example, using logic as our tool, the following timeline makes sense. 

Early on -- it could be tens of thousands of years ago or a million years ago -- hominids began making the first baskets with a random weave based on models from nature such as birds' nests. Then, after thousands of years, they gradually discovered the power of right-angle design which again, after thousands of years, allowed them to make a wide variety of well-crafted items from sandals to large boats and houses and played a major role in the emergence of civilizations such as Egypt and Sumer.

But the exact timing is not the most important thing, the progression is the most important thing.


CONCLUSION

It is quite clear that the first civilizations of Sumer, Babylon, and Egypt could not have functioned without a sophisticated woven-fiber technology which included an understanding of right-angle construction. This crucial technology included baskets and sacks for a wide variety of agricultural tasks, along with mats, shoes, containers, cordage, houses, boats, clothing, and much more. This means that woven-fiber constructions were critical to the emergence of civilization. Therefore it is important to understand the origins and development of this technology as it played a major role in the ascendence of humanity.

Egyptian agriculture used woven-fiber sacks and baskets for planting, harvesting, transporting, storing, and processing. Without woven-fiber technology, Egyptian civilization could not have functioned.
(Left) Ancient Egyptian model of a granary with scribes. This model was found in a tomb and shows men delivering grain in woven sacks which is being recorded by scribes.
(Right) Ancient Egyptian painting of men carrying and delivering sacks, from the Tomb of Oumsou.

Right now there is almost no information about the origins of basket-weaving and the discovery of right-angle construction. If we are to understand the development of human culture and the accompanying technologies, woven-fiber technology needs to be at the top of the list. Clearly, it warrants more consideration than it has been given in the past.


(Left) Typical Egyptian work basket.
(Right) The Egyptian God Heh kneeling on a basket. He is often shown with a basket emphasizing its importance. Medium: "Egyptian faience with pale green glaze" dated "between 1070 and 332 BC (Third Intermediate-Late Period)."

SPECIAL NOTE: An important new article has just been published about similar subject matter. Entitled "Mobile containers in human cognitive evolution studies: Understudied and underrepresented" by Michelle C. Langley and Thomas Suddendorf, it was published in Evolutionary Anthropology, 2020.
____________________________________________

FOOTNOTES
#1. Please see my blog:
Homo Habilis Learned Basket Making from Weaverbirds
https://deconstructingtime.blogspot.com/2020/04/oldowan-weaverbirds-homo-habilis-basket-making.html

#2. See the above blog-article for information about weaverbirds.

#3. “Thus far, the use-wear on the quartz and quartzite subsample of Kanjera artifacts confirms that animal butchery was conducted on-site, but also demonstrates the processing of a variety of plant tissues, including wood (for making wooden tools?) and tubers. This is significant, because the processing of plant materials appears to have been quite important, but would otherwise have been archaeologically invisible”. 
Popular Archaeology, June 12, 2012, quoting Dr. Thomas Plummer of Queens College, City University of New York.

#4. Dr. Adovasio has made the point that there is "ample ethnographic evidence that perishable technologies form the bulk of hunter-gatherer material culture even in arctic and sub-arctic environments (e.g. Damas 1984; Helm 1981). Archaeologists working with materials recovered from environmental contexts with ideal preservation clearly confirm that this is also true for the past as well. Taylor (1966:73), for example, notes that in dry caves he recovered 20 times more fiber artifacts than those made of stone, Croes (1997:536) reports that wet sites yield inventories where >95% of prehistoric material culture is made of wood and fiber, and Collins (1937) confirms the same for sites in Alaskan permafrost."
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. 

PICTURE ESSAY LINKS
Please copy and paste these links into your browser.
Links are in the same order as the pictures in the essay.

SCALABLE
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cestillos_de_esparto_(29319999262).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donkey_panniers.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballast_Baskets_(1402074671).jpg

VERSATILE
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1950s_Wicker_Woven_Musical_Sewing_Basket_-_ivorybird_(12398155865).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sillón_-_Madrid_(España).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swaziland_-_Traditional_homes.jpg

VOLUME
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandal_Maker,_Tomb_of_Rekhmire_MET_DP346330.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pair_of_Sandals_MET_eg28.jpg

FISHING TRAPS
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snail_basket.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMIB_33815_Fish_Trap,_Aitutaki.jpeg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Gevlochten_visfuik_TMnr_15-454.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMIB_33300_Bamboo_Fish_Pot_or_Trap_in_General_Use_in_Porto_Rico.jpeg

RAFTS
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children_on_a_raft_on_Lake_Washington_near_Bryn_Mawr,_Washington,_May_30,_1904_(KIEHL_23).jpeg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mid-south_western_Taiwan_bamboo_raft.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balsa_Raft.jpg

CORACLES
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britons_with_coracles_-_from_Cassell's_History_of_England,_Vol._I_-_anonymous_author_and_artists.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hogenakkal_Coracle.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kuphar.jpg

REED BOATS
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bolivia-130_-_Reed_Boat_(2218109064).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tigris_Model_Pyramids_of_Guimar.jpg
-- for the Babylonian drawing see the note at the end of this section
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boating,_Luxor,_tomb_of_Mentuemhet,_Third_Intermediate_Period_to_Late_Period,_Dynasties_25-26,_c._690-664_BC,_limestone,_pigment_-_Oriental_Institute_Museum,_University_of_Chicago_-_DSC07798.jpg

HOUSING
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_National_Archives_UK_-_CO_1069-202-35.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ZA-MP-matsamo-huette.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Nonquai_-_Eshowe_-_Zululand_Museum.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Replica_Zulu_Hut,_Voortrekker_Monument.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Une_hutte_traditionnelle.jpg

DETAIL: Replica_Zulu_Hut_thatch
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Replica_Zulu_Hut_thatch.jpg

MUDHIF
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iraqi_mudhif_interior.jpg
"A mudhif, a traditional Marsh Arab guesthouse made entirely out of reeds. The Marsh Arab live a lifestyle that dates back 5,000 years."
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modhif_neserya_1.jpg

CONSTRUCTION OF MUDHIF 
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/48053/mudhif-houses-capture-spirit-iraqi-culture
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/42276/marsh-arab-mudhif-rises-cob-adder

NEOLITHIC - EUROPEAN
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archeon_8000_years_BC.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kussow,_Steinzeitdorf.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neolithic_model_dwelling.Musée_des_tumulus_de_Bougon.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SMWM_-_Jungsteinzeitliches_Dorf_4.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heldenberg-IMG_7865-Neolithisches_Dorf.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bodensee,_Unteruhldingen-Pfahlbauten_D-017.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dispilio1.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archeoparc_-_Hütte_3.jpg

LOOMS 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neolitic_loom,_Vin%C4%8Da,_Serbia.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VerticalLoom.JPG

EGYPT AND BABYLON BASKET IMAGERY
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Model_of_a_Granary_with_Scribes_MET_DP351557.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tombe_d%27Oumsou_1.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian_-_Kneeling_Heh_on_a_Basket_-_Walters_48425.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basket_with_handles_MET_31-3-149.jpg

The drawing of boats from Babylon came from:
King, Leonard. A History of Babylon, From the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest, Vol. 2. London,  Chatto and Windus, 1915.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56667 -- page 322 in the ebook.




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