It is rare to find a workplace or home without a portable step ladder available to clean hard-to-reach places, change light bulbs and achieve most tasks that need to be undertaken at height.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Because a ladder is one of the simplest yet most effective inventions humanity has created, whilst there have been adaptations and innovations, there has been no need to refine what has worked so well for so long.
Whilst all civilisations have existed with some form of a ladder, it can still surprise some people that the concept of a climbing ladder has existed for at least 10,000 years, with documented evidence to prove it.
The earliest documented proof of humanity using a ladder as a climbing device was found in the Spider Caves in Valencia, which feature some of the earliest surviving cave paintings and drawings humanity has created.
One of these, dated between 8000 and 10,000 years ago, depicts a man foraging for honey from a wild bee nest, which is the first depiction not only of humans eating honey but also is notable for the way in which the “Man of Bicorp” reached the elevated nest.
The prehistoric man held on to a flexible ladder of some kind, presumably made out of lianas, a long vine that often grows along trees in an attempt to compete for sunlight.
This also suggests that the development of tools such as rope ladders was a critical part of humanity’s transition from a largely migratory hunter-gatherer community to one that started to plant roots and develop agriculture, with these settlements eventually forming cities and civilisations.
Other, similar paintings have been found in other parts of Spain as well, and provide a picture of life during a period of clear transition, with the ladder and its ability to help humans scale new heights providing an opportunity to expand.