Why are baskets found in creation stories from different cultures?

In many cultures, basketry is featured in creation stories because it is regarded as one of the first arts bestowed upon humanity. These myths often use the basket as a foundational model for the structure of the world.1

For example, ancient Mesopotamian myth describes the god Marduk creating the earth by plaiting a reed mat on the surface of the waters to hold the dust. Similarly, the Dogon people of West Africa tell of a first ancestor who received a square-bottomed basket; when upended, this basket served as the blueprint for a world system, with its circular mouth representing the sun and its square base representing the sky.1

By serving as a symbolic template for order and construction, the basket transcends its practical role as a receptacle to become a significant cultural and cosmological icon.1