Just as there are megalithic structures with a pillowy surface and knobs, from S. America to Egypt, from Turkey to India, there are representations of handbags in all those places, and many more. Across tens of thousands of years, the stelae and statues of cultures separated not only by millennia but thousands of miles show handbags. From the Olmecs to the Assyrians, from Native Americans to Egyptians, their gods or legendary leaders are shown carrying handbags.
IMG source - Alwan.elwatannews.com - Gobekli Tepe handbags
There are a variety of theories regarding these handbags, or pails, and what they signify. Some point to the representations from the Middle East that show the Acacia, that contains DMT, and derive from that these handbags represent hallucinogens or psychoactive substances. Others note that many of the depictions relate origin stories that describe how civilization was brought to their people and included seeds, enabling agriculture, which the bags are claimed to carry.
IMG source - Taringa.net - Aboriginal handbags
I don't claim to know what was in the pots or bags, but note that they appear to be almost ubiquitous in cultures with a lithographic tradition spanning tens of millennia. Artistic representations of Australian Aboriginal people are claimed to show handbags, and some of these rock artworks are said to be tens of millennia old. Olmecs and Middle Eastern imperial cultures are only a few thousand years old. Whatever these bags or buckets represent has been significant across tens of thousands of years to foundations of civilization around the world.
IMG source - Tabisuke.arukikata.co.jp - Olmec handbags
While it's mysterious, it also unifies humanity. The diversity of cultures and peoples that share these representations show that from S. America to Africa, to Europe, to S. Asia, the peoples and cultures across time and space from Oz to America, from the depth of the LGM to the Bronze Age, people have shared this particular symbol, and felt it significant enough to carve in stone.
IMG source - Wwnorton.com - Egyptian handbags (small human figure on the left)
While clearly people have used pouches, bags, and buckets to carry things, these representations are highly symbolic, and seem not to be of people just doing what they do going through their days, and the inclusion of the handbags are likely to have symbolic significance.
What do you think these mean?