SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Scientists find evidence of humans making clothes 120,000 years ago:
[...] Now researchers say they have found some of the earliest evidence of humans using clothing in a cave in Morocco, with the discovery of bone tools and bones from skinned animals suggesting the practice dates back at least 120,000 years.
Dr Emily Hallett, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, the first author of the study, said the work reinforced the view that early humans in Africa were innovative and resourceful.
"Our study adds another piece to the long list of hallmark human behaviours that begin to appear in the archaeological record of Africa around 100,000 years ago," she said.
While skins and furs are unlikely to survive in deposits for hundreds of thousands of years, previous studies looking at the DNA of clothing lice have suggested clothes may have appeared as early as 170,000 years ago – probably sported by anatomically modern humans in Africa.
The latest study adds further weight to the idea that early humans may have had something of a wardrobe.
Writing in the journal i Science, Hallett and colleagues report how they analysed animal bones excavated in a series of digs spanning several decades at Contrebandiers Cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The cave has previously been revealed to contain the remains of early humans.
Journal Reference:
Emily Y. Hallett. A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco, iScience (DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday September 17 2021, @08:46PM (3 children)
From reading the bible, it is clear that in ancient times, clothing appears to have been quite valuable. The clothes you wore might be one of the most valuable things you owned.
There are various examples. Without even looking, two come immediately to mind. Samson made a bet regarding a large number of sets of clothing. Elisha's sidekick Gehazi ran after Naaman and tricked him into giving him two sets of clothing. IIRC.
A third example, mentioned in old testament, when Jesus on the cross, soldiers gambling over his meager clothing, which was the only thing recorded that He ever owned.
I would assume 120,000 years ago, clothing might be as or more valuable than a few thousand years ago.
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday September 18 2021, @03:12AM (1 child)
In general, yes, clothes were expensive until quite recently. Not your basic caveman furs, which an average person could stitch together reasonably easily from stuff readily available, but once you get into cloth it becomes a massive chore.
Which makes perfect sense if you think of the labor involved:
1. Grow or gather some kind of soft fiber, whether that be wool, flax, cotton, or something else. Hours of labor required, just like any other agricultural good.
2. Spin that fiber into thread. If you've ever tried doing that by hand either twisting with your fingers or using a drop spindle or some other very simple tool, you'll get some idea of how much work that is to get enough together to make something useful with it.
3. If you're trying to get fancy, you might consider dyes for your thread at this point. Or alternately, do the dying after the next step. But either way, you're talking about a complex chemical process likely done by a professional.
4. Weave that thread into cloth. Hours and hours more of work there.
5. Tailor the cloth into the shape you want your clothes. Without any silly things like sewing machines. A relatively small pain in the butt compared to spinning and weaving, but still not an easy task, and you're trying to be very careful to not waste cloth because of how hard it is to make it.
We get lots of accounts of even high-society women doing a lot of fiber processing as a regular chore.
Typical Roman citizens would have had about 2 outfits, total. Roman slaves in the same period would have had just 1 unless their owner was very rich. Your typical peasant in 1000 CE *might* get a new outfit in a year, if there wasn't trouble like warfare or plague or crop failure. It wasn't until the mid-1800's that industrial production had gotten to the point where even aristocrats owned more than a few sets of clothes, and even then a good coat was on the same kind of expense level as a car today.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 19 2021, @02:43PM
Internet expert on ancient clothing manufacturing.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday September 18 2021, @03:23PM
You have to remember that there were no cotton gins or looms. Every article of clothing took an incredible amount of labor to create. Even as late as the depression, clothing, rugs, blankets were very expensive. My grandmothers made their own clothes, and made quilted blankets and rugs out of rags.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org