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.