Really?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterskin
Also, there was an ice age. Not everyone lives in scorching climates. Theres fresh water around me 247/365. As waterskins are somewhat recent probably, in terms of evolutionary history.
How do you think early humans survived without water bottles? Did they just live next to water sources all the time?
Submitted 5 hours ago by sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone to [deleted]
Comments
Dasus@lemmy.world 50 minutes ago
Nefara@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Yes, humans used to live much closer to water sources. On a town level, if you didn’t have a creek or river nearby you just didn’t settle there. Available water was absolutely necessary for domestic animals, cooking, washing, and of course drinking. On a personal level, you would go in the morning to a central well or water source and gather your water you would need for the day. Depending on the household needs it might be multiple trips with heavy, full vessels. You would put the water in to household water vessels, like a basin for cleaning or a ewer for washing or your cook pot. If you were thirsty at home, you would take a dipper (basically a ladle) and take some water from the household supply.
Where did you get the impression we didn’t used to have water bottles? They weren’t made of plastic or metal but humans have carried water with them for probably as long as we’ve used tools. You can carry water in drinking horns, in clay pots, wooden buckets, in dried out animal bladders or leather skeins, and there’s literally a type of gourd called a “bottle gourd” which has been dried out and used as a personal water bottle for milennia across any region that can grow them. Don’t underestimate human ingenuity, we didn’t always have access to the same technology and materials but we have always been able to problem solve.SirDankbud@lemmy.ca 1 hour ago
You know the smell dirt makes when its wet? It’s called petrichor and humans can smell it better than sharks smell blood in the water. It is detectable by the human nose at 0.4 parts per BILLION. This gave early humans a huge advantage in finding water when needed. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor
Smeagol666@lemm.ee 11 minutes ago
I was trying to think of that word just a few days ago when I went outside and could smell that a storm was coming, then my ADHD kicked in an I forgot about it.
PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
For the most part, yes, at least on a large scale. Proximity to a water source was pretty much a requirement for developments for most of history.
On the smaller side of things, other commenters have already mentioned that we had ways to store water before bottles existed.
ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 4 hours ago
I know it’s hard to believe, but in a majority of places on Earth, water is readily available.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 4 hours ago
I think it’s more accurate to say that water is readily available in places where humans are likely to go. Because, you know, humans don’t tend to go where there is no water.
Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Most of the water on earth isn’t drinkable, it’s salt water.
abbadon420@lemm.ee 4 hours ago
For now
Lembot_0003@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
(Evil Nescafe laughter): Muahahaha!
HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
Was
Poojabber@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
We had water bottles way before plastic… we used wood, mud, clay, stone, and animal parts to store water before recorded history…
Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 hours ago
Going backwards in time, they had metal and brass containers, before that they had wooden buckets and barrels, ceramic pots, carved out animal parts or fruit of plants.
Before farming, probably a good portion of the water early people subsisted on was from the food they ate. (Berries and fruit, fish, meat, etc.) Water might pool around rocky areas after rain, even if there was no stream nearby in a pinch.
TimewornTraveler@piefed.social 3 hours ago
getting water used to be a daily chore. ever hear that song "jack and jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water?" or see the old kung fu movies where they train running water up staircases?
Anti_Iridium@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Or in areas of Africa where that is still a daily chore
xylogx@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Humans sweat. It is one of our superpowers and enables endurance hunting. Anthropologists theorize that early humans would have had to have developed water carrying technologies for this to be viable. They study primitive hunter gathers who still practice endurance hunting and they use water skins during the hunt.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 hours ago
That is super cool!
queermunist@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
You ever notice how every other animal manages to survive without water bottles? It was like that for most of human existence, before we figured out water skins and wooden cups and clay jugs.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
For the most part, yes. That is why they tended to congregate around water sources. Even early settlements and towns and cities were near waters sources even after we had portable water containers because water is heavy and large numbers of people need a large water source.
But before we changed the environment significantly, there were a lot more potable water sources. More streams, more water pooled up after rains, etc. that could be ingested because of a lack of human pollution. If humans were within a days walking distance of a water source, they could do their hunting and gathering nearby and drink up afterwards.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 hours ago
Pots
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 4 hours ago
Dehydration is but a secondary concern as you’re being chased by a sabertooth tiger.
Sidhean@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Do you think you could run further or not as far while dehydrated?
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 hours ago
Further if there was a sabertooth tiger chasing me
realcaseyrollins 4 hours ago
That had water bottles back in the Bible, so they probably had water bottles for the vast majority of history. It might be one of the first things people ever invented actually.
remon@ani.social 5 hours ago
Animal bladders and other organs were used as protable water containers very early on.
DrFistington@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Or things like gourds
Carrolade@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I was just gonna say, a squash that I cut in half, hollow out and dry is pretty low-tech stuff. Could probably use a coconut if you were in a pinch… Lot of options.
egrets@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
And skins, tanned, stitched, and treated with resin. Pottery is also an ancient skill.