We hardly give them a second thought, but everyday objects like bags and backpacks belong to a long technological tradition that may stretch back hundreds of thousands of years.
A new study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology reports how scientists compiled a database of over 700 ancient containers. They suggest these objects helped early humans carry and move things more easily, to support how they lived and adapted to new environments. "The container is perhaps humanity's single most important and pervasive technological concept," commented the study authors in their paper.
While researchers have extensively studied containers from the Neolithic era (from 12,000 to 4,000 years ago), they have paid far less attention to those from the much older Pleistocene era.
This new work did not involve any new excavations. Instead, a small team of archaeologists and anthropologists combed through previous research to find evidence that others had either missed or weren't looking for.
A portable revolution
The team searched through published records for three types of evidence to include in their database. These included actual objects, like stone lamps or hollowed-out shells, and ancient artwork, such as cave paintings and carvings depicting people with containers. They also looked for wear and tear on stone tools that might suggest the items had once been kept in a leather pouch or bag.
This massive effort yielded a database of 739 individual Pleistocene-era objects. Most came from Europe, reflecting the extensive archaeological work conducted there.
The oldest container identified was a bark tray, dating back roughly 500,000 to 400,000 years. Other interesting objects include bone tubes from Russia and hollowed-out shells from South Africa. Just over three-quarters of all the containers in the database date back to the last 25,000 years of the Pleistocene. The researchers interpret this as a sign that human reliance on containers significantly intensified during this period.
Life on the move
This large collection of containers challenges the old idea that complex storage only began when humans started farming around 12,000 years ago. The paper also argues that containers were not just for storage, as many appeared to be used for transporting materials.
The authors propose that these tools functioned as an extension of the human body. By allowing people to carry food, water, and even infants over long distances, containers were a fundamental technology that supported human mobility and adaptation to new environments. They add, "Containers are not an agricultural presupposition but rather 'an essential component of the hunter-gatherer way of life.'"
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More information
Jennifer C. French et al, The origins and development of mobile containers: Biocultural perspectives on Pleistocene containment, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2026.101769
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Citation: A history of containers, an ancient technology hundreds of thousands of years in the making (2026, May 13) retrieved 13 May 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-05-history-ancient-technology-hundreds-thousands.html
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