Archeologists, who devised the word in the first place, have found skeuomorphs going back thousands of years. There are
Neolithic Scandinavian flint daggers that have been painstakingly chiselled with ornamental designs like those on the
new-fangled bronze daggers being sported at the time by the ruling classes. A 3,500-year old ornamental gold blade found in
Romania features a pommel that would have been the separate handle section of a humble flint dagger. Pottery, rather like
plastic today, was especially good at imitating different styles. As a result, archaeologists particularly like pottery finds because
of the information they provide about what less durable materials, such as basketry or textiles, might have looked like.
The earliest known skeuomorphs found in Britain are 5,000-year-old earthenware jars engraved with strips and stitching marks
that imitate the look of leather.
Picture the scene. It is the year 3010BC. Returning from an extended high-level meeting with the boys at the the hill fort, Thork
has brought his wife a three-for-the-price-of-one set of leather-look pottery jars.
"What are those?" Thora demands to know, glaring pointedly at the sun dial. "They're really useful," enthuses Thork,
unsteadily. "Look, they don't leak. You can just wipe them and they dry instantly. And they'll keep bison fat cool for ages."
"Couldn't you have got proper leather ones?" Thora shrieks. "No-one uses pottery. it's so... 3020s. there's no way they're
going in my front cave. I bet you've forgotten to kill anything. it's a good thing I've picked some berries. And another thing..."
Thork gathers up the pots and slinks off to his den. "don't worry, dear," he calls. "I'll just use these to store my collection of
German arrowheads."
