- People have been using handbags since ancient times.
- 18th-century "purses" were actually pockets.
- Designer "status bags" originated in the '50s.
If you keep your whole life in your purse, it's easy to take your favorite accessory for granted. But there's a whole history behind that tote or saddle bag you're carrying.
Here's how handbags have evolved through the years.
Handbags have been depicted since ancient times.
From Iraq to New Zealand, archaeologists have identified handbag-like symbols in ancient carvings. Though interpretations vary, the etchings might represent the cosmos, with the "strap" standing in for the sky's hemisphere and the base denoting the earth.
One of the oldest sites featuring a handbag image is Göbekli Tepe, a collection of monoliths in Southeastern Turkey believed to be linked to prehistoric worship. Dating back around 11,000 years, the structures predate Stonehenge.
Hunter-gatherers stored food and supplies in pouches.
Starting in 38,000 BCE, hunter-gatherers used fiber-based pouches and bundles to stow food and supplies. The earliest of these primitive pouches were simple, but they became more complex towards the end of the Stone Age.
In 2012 near Leipzig, Germany, archaeologists found remnants of what might be the world's oldest purse— a collection of more than 100 dog teeth embedded in the dirt — in a grave circa 2500 to 2200 BCE. The teeth were arranged in a pattern that suggested they once decorated a textile or leather bag.
"Over the years the leather or fabric disappeared, and all that's left is the teeth. They're all pointing in the same direction, so it looks a lot like a modern handbag flap," Susanne Friederich, an archaeologist with the Sachsen-Anhalt State Archaeology and Preservation Office, told National Geographic.
The word "purse" comes from bags used in ancient Greece.
In ancient Greece, people carried coins in pouches called "byrsa" ("hide, leather"), which entered the English language via Latin to become "purse."
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