It was very exciting researching yokes, (the concept of Slingme). Pictured left, from Ancient Egypt on a talatat from the Karnak temple, a yoke dating as far back as 1570-1292 BC, similar to the picture of a Chinese woman using a yoke, (middle left) taken by Karl-Gustav Sjöström last year, and to the surprise of his wife Peggy, “Even tiny women carried these very heavy baskets of goods with the help of a yoke” Where the yoke originated is debatable, there seems to be a mystery between China and the Middle East. Then I found an earlier illustration from Mesopotamia (Iraq) depicting the yoke from the epic of Gilgamesh about 27th century BC! It seems the technology has survived for millenniums with little or no change, a very successful technique to have survived. There’s little room in our urban lives to carry our possessions using the long sticked yoke, and Slingme being comfortably padded and compact makes a wonderful modern alternative to the efficient ancient yoke.

Here's looking back to the future.

-- Boo