TLDR: Oldest clothes found date back 5,500 years; lice DNA suggests earlier use; ongoing research uncovers ancient textiles, tools, and Neanderthal clothing practices.
This article is a summary of a You Tube video “When Did We Stop Being Naked?” by PBS Eons
Key Takeaways:
- Discovery of the Tarkhan Dress: In 1977, conservators discovered the Tarkhan Dress in William Matthews Flinders Petrie’s collection, dating it to 5,500 years old, making it the oldest known piece of clothing.
- Ancient Clothing Fragility: Ancient clothing rarely survives in archaeological records due to its fragility, and preserved pieces are often found in extreme environmental conditions.
- Older Textile Evidence: Excavations at Çatalhöyük, Turkey, revealed textile fragments from about 8,500 years ago, 3,000 years older than the Tarkhan Dress.
- Clothing as a Process: Clothing is seen as the endpoint of various processes including fiber creation, fabric weaving, and garment assembly.
- Early Textile Production Evidence: In Dzudzuana Cave, Georgia, 30,000-year-old dyed flax fibers suggest an ancient local textile industry.
- Oldest Clothing Evidence from Tools: A needle from Sibudu Cave, South Africa, dated at 61,000 years old, indicates early clothing use.
- Lice as Indicators of Clothing: DNA analysis of human lice suggests the divergence of head and body lice around 83,000 to 170,000 years ago, indicating early clothing use in Homo sapiens.
- Neanderthal Clothing Possibilities: Evidence from animal bones and stone scrapers at Neanderthal sites implies they might have used animal hides as clothing.
- Continuous Research and Discoveries: Ongoing research and innovative methods continue to uncover evidence about ancient clothing.
- Cultural and Functional Roles of Clothing: Clothing has played roles in protection, societal norms, personal privacy, and self-expression throughout history.
