The origins and development of mobile containers: Biocultural perspectives on Pleistocene containment

French, JC ORCID: 0000-0001-5947-6669, Khaksar, S, Fuentes, A and Kissel, M ORCID: 0000-0002-4004-1996 (2026) The origins and development of mobile containers: Biocultural perspectives on Pleistocene containment Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 82. 101769-. ISSN 0278-4165, 1090-2686

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Abstract

Containers are ubiquitous and universal across all present-day societies. The substantial increase in the quantity and diversity of containers in the archaeological record following the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Neolithic means that the broader evolutionary implications of the development of containers are often overlooked, despite their origins extending back to the Pleistocene. This paper advocates for the importance of specifically mobile (portable) containers for Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, presenting the first comprehensive assessment of the evidence for Pleistocene mobile containers in a new dataset that documents more than 700 examples of Pleistocene containers. We use this dataset to; 1) characterise Pleistocene container use and 2) examine the timing and underlying causes of a Pleistocene ‘container transition’ from a primate- to human (hominin)-type of engagement with containment technology. Focusing primarily on containers as a technology of transportation, and highlighting the strong selective pressures across the hominin lineage for technological solutions to the challenges of moving food, water, raw materials, and infants across the landscape, we draw attention to the evolutionary implications and significance of containers; a significance rooted in their transportation affordances and the resultant opportunities that containers offered for hominin niche construction and the biocultural adaptations of Palaeolithic foragers.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	4301 Archaeology, 4401 Anthropology, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology, 44 Human Society
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures > Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	10 Apr 2026 15:48
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2026 19:12
DOI:	10.1016/j.jaa.2026.101769
Open Access URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
Related Websites:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3197924
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