Primitive backpacks

[Thenihilist]

Does anyone know what method was mainly used by our ancestors to carry things?

I made a frame from natural materials based on the roycraft design but did the tie things to the frame or would a basket be a better choice lashed to the frame?

I know nets were used but i can carry a net in a basket but not a basket in a net.

 

[Viking]

There is a lot of options how you can create the bag itself, I have used many different designs. Old WW2 rucksacks were you remove the frame and put on the old canvas bag, jute sacks gives it the right image, or just make 3 big loops with cordage that makes it mucj easier to tie on anything to your frame. Best is to use your imagination and try different designs and see what works for you.

 

[toilet digger]

i generally get the mrs to carry stuff (sorry couldn't help myself)
an A frame as a base and then you could lash nets or baskets to it.

jamie

 

[blacktimberwolf]

What period in time do you have in mind............"ancestors" is pretty vague

 

[Thenihilist]

What period in time do you have in mind............"ancestors" is pretty vague

Sorry, not really a particular period but pre metal tools, kind of stone age. Used in Britain.

 

[santaman2000]

Pre Stone Age actually precludes carrying anything. After all once our ancestors started using kit of any kind, it is by definition the Stone Age.

Old Stone Age = When primitive man learned to pick up natural objects (stones, bones, etc.) and use them as primitive tools.
New Stone Age = When primitive man learned to actually improve or fashion tools from natural objects (i.e. knapping) and keep them for continued use.

Sorry. I misread your post. I thought you said "pre-Stone age."

I expect that stone age peoples hadn't yet developed a "backpack." More likely some type of sack simply carried by hand or tied to the end a stick which was carried over their shoulder. Think of the Roman soldiers kit carried that way. Or perhaps a longer stick with a sack on each end and then balanced over or across the shoulders like a yoke. That method is still seen today in some parts of the world; as is a simple basket balanced on top of the head.

 

[Everything Mac]

http://www.iceman.it/en/node/283

fascinated by this guy at the moment.

Andy

 

[pango]

I think the evidence for how people have carried goods and gear is still apparent in the world around us. The materials might have changed but the solutions are still the same.. we're all human beings and have the same anatomy. Water is carried on top of the head or on yolks and the solution to carrying a floppy basketful may be with a strap across the forehead.

There is evidence in numerous places of the use of drag-carts. The mysterious double tramlines to be found criss-crossing Malta, for example, were clearly made by stone attachments to a drag-frame. It's curious that all of the tram-lines are of the same "gauge", which suggests standardisation around 5-3,000 BC. I've seen almost identical marks in Tunisia, Libya, Sicily, Sardinia and, wait for it... Scotland. And that's not as far fetched as it sounds, if you took a Sardinian Nuraghe and dropped it in Scotland, the Archaeologists would be astonished that their surveys had missed a Scottish Broch, and the only place outside the Mediterranean I've seen attachment points made by boring a V into the rock are in caves in Spain, France and on the Fife coast.

I truly believe that when put in a pinch, our solutions to a problem will evolve into similarities surprisingly quickly.
After all, we're only human!

ps; Any research in carrying should involve mainly women, as they have evolved adaptations for exactly that task. Although, my wife claims they're evolutionary adaptations for slapping husbands!

Pango.

 

[santaman2000]

...ps; Any research in carrying should involve mainly women, as they have evolved adaptations for exactly that task. Although, my wife claims they're evolutionary adaptations for slapping husbands!

Pango.

If you really want to test her theory just tell her that women evolved smaller feet so as to more easily fit under the sink when doing the dishes.

 

[asemery]

http://cameratrapcodger.blogspot.com/2008/01/in-praise-of-tump-line.html

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

I have a possibles bag that I made an A frame pack for it then lashed the possibles bag to it I have to say it worked out very well one thing I did was use an adjustable knot on it so that I could adjust the shoulder straps to the differences it clothing thickness like from a t-shirt to winter jacket I liked the ease of adjustability....

 

[Badger74]

A couple of photos from a medieval hike and camp I did in February this year. It will give you a couple of carrying ideas


group by chrstphrferg, on Flickr


A Frame rucksack by chrstphrferg, on Flickr

 

[Dogoak]

The most primitive rucksack I've seen used was in the middle of the Picos in northern Spain. Carried by a female goat herder, the sac was made from a goat skin folded across the width, hair side out, the font and rear legs meeting to make the top part of the straps and the sides sewn up.

 

[Shotgun]

http://www.iceman.it/en/node/283

fascinated by this guy at the moment.

Andy

Me too. My cutting tools are pretty much the modern day equivalents of his tools. CS Trail hawk for an axe, Izula II for a knife, and a SAK Soldier for scraper and awl. I'm not giving up my modern clothes and backpack though.