Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I've of course seen reference to the "Otzi pack" for years - but it was also my understanding that the "pack frame" interpretation was still a best-guess, and there was some speculation it might have been a snowshoe frame.

But HERE we have unambiguous evidence. Look at this beauty:
This thing was used to carry salt out of a mine in the Halstatt period (8-6th c. BC). Apparently being in a salt mine is good for preserving organic objects, go figure.
Here's where I snagged the picture:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/c ... nt_celtic/

.... but it's also shown in several documentary videos of the Hallstat mine finds on youTube.


I especially like the "stiffening strips" of hide laced through the mouth of the bag. It very much reminds me of the seams on the "crannog bag" we saw not long ago:


the "Loch Glashan" - Iron Age leather satchel / haversack


... kinda makes me wonder if Aistan might have such a thing.

I had come across this pack back in 2015 when I was looking for ancient european gear examples, nice to see a slightly different view of it. I like the idea that the stick might be used to prop it up as a tripod for filling with salt (otherwise it doesn't seem to do much)! If the U-strap was a tumpline, that gives us an idea of its size and usage...seems like it would ride pretty high and not the best for longdistance travel. Aistan loves his bent A-frame pack (recently figured a way to attach blanketroll for maximum freedom of movement!), but this is still a sweet piece of gear. Nice find on the possible cultural continuity of woven leather strips, too!

Wow! How cool is that! I've been debating my method of carrying equipment and this is very helpful!

Here I am, looking for posts about rucksacks/backpacks, thinking "surely some sort of stick frame to suspend a bag isn't out of the question". And here is someone posting exactly what I had imagined.

If you can imagine it and it's practical then experience tells me that someone else in the history of mankind has done it somewhere.

It's just a matter of where and if we've found an example yet.

Exactly. No way I am the first person in thousands of years to think "what if I tied it to a stick?"

OParnoShoshoi wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 12:58 am Exactly. No way I am the first person in thousands of years to think "what if I tied it to a stick?"

LOL

in all seriousness, how many times have I sat down and wondered why on earth no one had ever done something before, and then discovered that they have

Iodo wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:57 am in all seriousness, how many times have I sat down and wondered why on earth no one had ever done something before, and then discovered that they have

Lol been there. I guess its like they say "there's nothing new under the sun".