Writing it, and reading all the comments I have received, and following up on the information I got from the comments, has been even better than I thought it would be when I started. Thanks to all of my readers!
To add just a bit of tangentially relevant content to this post, here is a link to an article from the Irish Times about a 5,000 year old find from Twyford County in Ireland. That find is of a largish fragment of basket. The article refers to it as a "Neolithic handbag" but I suspect it was more of a bag for carrying fruit or vegetables or other foods a Stone Age gatherer might have found. There are two pictures--one of the find itself, and one a reconstruction drawing showing how the original basket might have looked when new. I commend it to my readers' attention, and thank my friend John Desmond for bringing my attention to the article.
