FIRE. The wheel. String.
The invention of string might not leap to mind when you think of humanity's greatest early feats ("World's oldest string found at French Neanderthal site"). Tying our shoelaces is as close to it as many of us get.
But consider how your distant ancestors would have joined an axe head to a haft or turned beads into a necklace without it. Then there are its mechanical uses – from bowstrings to traps and pulley cables. And of course, the intertwining of fibres is the basis of weaving, and textiles, without which we'd all be a lot colder.
The likes of adhesives, nails and moulded plastic might be tying up many of string's everyday uses, but textiles are going from strength to strength. Luxury car components, for example, are now being woven from carbon fibre. So we are a long way off running out of uses for string. Just don't ask how long.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Humanity's ancient ties"
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