I took up indoor climbing recently and have been learning the basics of belaying and rappelling. I got in a conversation with my father about it, and he informed me that back in his days as an arborist they just used rope. No harnesses, no braking devices, nothing. He described how they'd fasten a short rope around their waists and tie onto the dual safety lines with a special knot (a prusik knot?) that would catch them if they fell. For braking, they'd wrap the rope around their bodies a certain way and rather uncomfortably lower themselves. Apparently it all got the job done.

My question is, would techniques like these still be useful to learn in case the only item available during an emergency was a coil of rope? It's a question I plan to ask the instructors at my climbing gym. I bet we have better techniques available nowadays.