When you think about ancient human beings, you probably imagine them wearing some kind of animal-skin garment and little else.
That said, we all know how bad chafing can get, especially during those hot summer months, and it would get a bit breezy down there in the winter, too!
So maybe it’s not so hard to believe that Paleolithic humans could have seen the need as well.
This conclusion, strangely enough, came from an analysis of the world’s earliest eyed sewing needles.
They date back to the Last Glacial Maximum in the famous Denisova cave, and seem to prove that the people during that era had a need for more precise and delicate clothes-making.
The Denisova cave was occupied by Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans over a period of 100,000 years. The more sophisticated sewing tools coincided with a drastic drop in global temperatures during the Ice Age.
So it was likely the deepening cold, not the heat, that set off a need for more layers, says the study.
“The effectiveness of adding extra layers to improve insulation derives from the basic thermal principle of clothing, namely, trapping air near the skin surface to reduce the rate of convective heat loss. An association between eyed needles and a physiological need for more thermally effective fitted clothing is apparent, and a link with underwear has been posited.”
This is largely a leap of logic, however, not hard evidence that underwear was a thing 40,000 years ago.
Another component to the theory is that until that point in history, people had expressed themselves through body art like red ocher, tattoos, and intentional scarring.
Once the changing climate forced them to cover up, being able to be more creative with their garments could have filled this need for their society.
“Eyed needle tools are an important development in prehistory because they document a transition in the function of clothing from utilitarian to social purposes. Eyed needles would have been especially useful for the very fine sewing that was required to decorate clothing.”
The researchers believe this could have allowed to embellishments like fur trim, beads, or shells as well.
“The benefits of manufacturing eyed needles – facilitating finer sewing by hand and rendering the task of sewing more efficient – may pertain to adornment of clothes and also the need for underwear in multilayered garment assemblages.”
So, the developments of underwear and finer, more intricate clothing are not mutually-exclusive reasons for the development of eyed needles
“These two different purposes actually coincide, since the thermal need for underwear corresponds to a more complete and continuous use of clothing, which, in turn, would favor a shift from decorating the skin surface to adorning the more visible surface of clothes.”
It sounds like a pretty convincing argument.
One we may never be able to prove, but convincing nonetheless.
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