These artifacts date from the seventh century B.C. to the present and illustrate progressions in the development of portable water and food containers, as well as related utensils and fire-making tools. In ancient times, water and food wares were fashioned from gourd, leather, wood, and baked clay. More recently, this list came to include wooden casks, horns, and pewter tableware in the eighteenth century; tin-dipped iron in the nineteenth century; aluminum canteens and mess kits during WWI; WWII-era stainless steel canteens and mess kits with caps and handles of bakelite (the first synthetic plastic); followed by the widespread use of plastics in the later decades of the twentieth century. Basic cutlery also evolved over the centuries from the use of flint to bronze, iron, pewter, tin-dipped iron, aluminum, stainless steel, and plastic. Fire-making tools followed a slower progression, from a vertical hardwood stick spun between the palms to create a friction fire in soft wood, to flint and iron pyrite used to spark a fire, followed by flint and steel, and finally, after 1826, the sulfur match.
Ancient Greek water jug and Phoenician water flaskDatoga water gourds from the Great Rift Valley of AfricaMaasai water gourd from the Great Rift Valley of AfricaWater gourd from a Tonga village in the Zambezi River Valley of AfricaBamboo and Coconut water vessels from northern ThailandWater flasks made from gourd and leatherTarahumara water jugs, hand-coiled and open-firedMestizo water jugs and cooking potAncient Greek shallow bowls on pedestals with remnants of black and red glazesTarahumara madrone-wood bowlFire sticks of the Hadzabe, top, and Maasai, bottom, from the Great Rift Valley of AfricaFlint and iron pyrite fire sparkerHand-forged 18th-19th century-style steel and flint fire sparkerPrehistoric Jordan Valley flint microliths used as knivesPrehistoric Native American flint knivesAncient Scythian iron knivesTarahumara madrone-wood cooking and serving spoonsBamboo fork and spoon from the Philippines. Palmwood fork and spoon from Vietnam.Revolutionary War and frontier era wood-stave canteens with wooden and iron hoopsFrontier powder horn; often used to carry waterRevolutionary War era pewter plate and utensils with bone handlesReplica 18th-19th century cook pot; copper lined with tinCivil War canteen; tin-dipped iron with wool cover and linen strapCivil War era tin-dipped iron plate, cup, and utensilsWorld War I aluminum canteen and mess kit, tin-dipped iron utensils, wool blanket, and helmetWorld War II stainless steel canteen with cup, mess kit, utensils, and helmetVietnam War plastic canteen and stainless steel mess kit and utensilsBoy Scout canteen, mess kit, and utensils, 1970Plastic and metal water bottles, mess kit, and utensils, c. 2000Ultralight collapsible flask and bowls, utensils, and titanium cook kitUltralight equipment with cook kit set upWater filter bottle and straw, and purification tablets
David Weston Marshall 