Basket weaving is an art introduced to us at an early age. Perhaps it’s because it is so ageless. While basket weaving is one of the widest spread crafts in the history of any human civilization, no one can say for sure how old, because the natural materials like wood, grass, and animal remains used in making baskets decayed over time. From Wikipedia, we learn that the oldest known baskets were discovered in Faiyum in upper Egypt and have been carbon dated to between 10,000 and 12,000 years old, earlier than any established dates for archaeological evidence of pottery vessels, which were too heavy and fragile to suit far-ranging hunter-gatherers. Baskets were a staple item. We needed them throughout civilization. Even through the World Wars, baskets were used for dropping supplies of ammunition and food to the troops.