The first cultural object is a topic of debate and interpretation among various theorists. For some, including Ursula K. Le Guin, it is the container, a bag, a sack, or a vessel. In her essay "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction," Le Guin describes a harmonious daily life of gathering food and things by early humans, in stark contrast to the heroic tales of mammoth-hunting and weapons. She speaks of a desire for an origin story of culture that is not written in blood. If our origin, according to history books, is based on the killing of animals and fellow humans, Le Guin would rather not be human. In order to finally feel like a full-fledged part of humanity in harmony with nature, rather than as its conqueror, she focuses on the perspective of people who, through the use of a bag, managed everyday life, whether through collecting food or carrying offspring. These are life stories as opposed to killer stories. She draws a clear line from the "mammoth stories" to Cain and Abel, to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, napalm attacks in Vietnam, Ronald Reagan's space program, and other narratives of supposed “progress“.

The former glass containers shown here are all fragmented, their edges adorned with tin, no longer serving a containment function. Mirror puddles and glass drops suggest a leakage of fluid. A dagger is stuck in a soldered oyster shell.