Basketry
Cestería
- Date
- c. 27 ka · confidence medium
- Place
- Pavlov I, Moravia, Czech Republic (impressions); Ohalo II, Israel
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens (Gravettian)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Basketry impressions preserved in fired clay and twisted fibres. Baskets allow seeds, fruit and molluscs to be gathered, carried and stored in quantity.
Directly preserved baskets are later (Cueva de los Murciélagos, Spain, c. 9500 BCE; Guitarrero, Peru). Multiple, indeterminate invention.
What it led to
- Intensive gathering of wild grain: a precondition for agriculture
- Storage and transport of surplus
- Shaped containers that inspired the first ceramic vessels
Built on
- Plant beddingc. 77 ka
- Ostrich eggshell water containersc. 60 ka
- Cordage (twisted fibre string)c. 50 ka
- Woven plant-fibre textilesc. 27 ka
- Cordage (twisted fibre string)
- Woven plant-fibre textiles
Made possible
- Storage pitsc. 27 ka
- Grinding of wild cereals (grinding stone)c. 23 ka
- Pottery vessels (Xianrendong)c. 20 ka
- Granary / grain siloc. 9300 BCE
- Near Eastern Neolithic potteryc. 6900 BCE
- Indigo dye and American cotton textilec. 4000 BCE
- Frame backpackc. 3300 BCE
- Grinding of wild cereals (grinding stone)
- Pottery vessels (Xianrendong)
- Storage pits