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Excerpt from The Basketry Book: Twelve Lessons in Reed Weaving
Basketry is one of the most ancient of crafts and probably the origin of all the textile arts of the world.
The process of interweaving twigs, seeds, or leaves is practised among the rudest nations of the world; and as it is one of the most universal of arts, so also does it rank among the most ancient industries.
Authorities on the subject declare that there has never been a tribe in any part of the world that has not employed some mode of making baskets, and that all the weaves in use at the present day have their origin in baskets made by our savage ancestors.
A craft of such antiquity is naturally of surpassing interest.
The ancient Britons appear to have excelled in the art of basket making, and the shields of the ancient warriors and also their huts were made of wicker-work; and their boats of the same material, covered with skins of animals, attracted the notice of the Romans. Herodotus mentions boats of this kind on the Tigris and Euphrates.
Among many uncivilized tribes of the present day baskets of a superior order are made and applied to various useful purposes.
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