Humans have used containers for at least 100,000 years, and possibly for millions of years. The first containers were probably invented for storing
food, allowing early humans to preserve more of their food for a longer time, to carry it more easily, and also to protect it from other animals. The development of
food storage containers was "of immense importance to the evolving human populations", and "was a totally innovative behavior" not seen in other primates. The earliest containers were probably objects found in nature such as hollow
gourds, of which examples have been found in cultures such as those of the
Tharu people, and
native Hawaiian people. These were followed by woven
baskets, carved
wood, and
pottery. Containers thereafter continued to develop along with related advances in human
technology, and with the development of new materials and new means of manufacture. Early glass bottles were produced by the
Phoenicians; specimens of Phoenician
translucent and transparent glass bottles have been found in
Cyprus and
Rhodes generally varying in length from three to six inches. These Phoenician examples from the first millennium
BC were thought to have been used to contain
perfume. The
Romans learned glass-making from the Phoenicians and produced many extant examples of fine glass bottles, mostly relatively small. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, sizes for retail containers such as glass bottles had become standardized for their markets. In 1810, Frenchman
Philippe de Girard came to London and used British merchant
Peter Durand as an agent to patent his own idea for a process for making
tin cans. The canning concept was based on experimental
food preservation work in glass containers the year before by the French inventor
Nicholas Appert. Durand did not pursue food canning, but, in 1812, sold his patent to two Englishmen,
Bryan Donkin and
John Hall, who refined the process and product, and set up the world's first commercial canning factory on Southwark Park Road, London. By 1813 they were producing their first tin canned goods for the
Royal Navy. For transportation of goods on a larger scale, larger containers remained a problem, as customs officials inspecting imports had to deal with a lack of standardization in this field, and because predominantly wooden containers in use well into the twentieth century were prone to leaking or breaking. == Modern characteristics ==