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Letter: On the history of human inventions (2)

Published 17 June 2026

From Barry Evans, Eureka, California, US

I’ve long held the opinion that the very first human invention was the basket, probably made of large leaves or woven stalks. For the “gathering” part of “hunting and gathering” to be really useful to the tribe, as opposed to the individual, the person picking the fruit or digging the tubers would need to transport their bounty back to the gathering place to be shared by all.

Issue no. 3600 published 20 June 2026

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