Wednesday Stringy Open Comments

I treated myself to a craft book at Half Price Books the other day, and I opened it up to begin reading the first chapter, which was a history of needlework. The authoress, Kate Welsh, started out her “not your mama’s stitching” with an interesting question:
What Upper Paleolithic invention arguably enabled humans to conquer the earth?

Thinking about human domination in general, my first thoughts were things like “the wheel,” “metals,” “fire,” etc. Nope, she says, the answer may very well be — string.
String (not just sinew) allowed these humans to develop from a nomadic to agricultural society because it had so many uses. They could make snares and nets out of string, allowing them to “hunt” from afar. It enabled them to develop tools like the bow and arrow. String could lash together poles to make rafts or shelter. They learned to fish. Using string for hunting was a force multiplier in their efforts to gather food.
Even better, string would be woven to make fabric, allowing them to make lightweight containers for carrying food or other items, and for storage. They were able to hoard food, allowing them to survive lean times. (Although they could make rawhide bags with hide and sinew as well, though the leather bags would be heavier than the fabric bags.) They could make slings to hold babies, allowing the mothers to have both hands free for activities like, say, berry picking..
I found it an interesting topic for musing. What kind of man (or woman) in 40,000 B.C. was the first to look at a plant and think “I MUST take the leaves off that thing and strip the fibers out of it, then twist them together into one long string, and then tie stuff together with it!” I look at a plant and say “ooh, how pretty” or “oh, crap, a caterpillar!” And what other items that we take for granted today would have been just as important?
It is the small things that allow us to be the top of the food chain today. We owe our current level of existence to someone who could look past the greenery to see the cordage.