The Study Of The History Of Clothing And Textiles Traces The
Development, Use, And Availability Of Clothing And Textiles
Over Human History. Clothing And Textiles Reflect The Materials
And Technologies Available In Different Civilizations At Differ
ent Times. The Variety And Distribution Of Clothing And Textiles
Within A Society Reveal Social Customs And Culture.
The Wearing Of Clothing Is Exclusively A Human Characteristic
And Is A Feature Of Most Human Societies. Anthropologists
Believe That Animal Skins And Vegetation Were Adapted Into
Coverings As Protection From Cold, Heat, And Rain, Especially
As Humans Migrated To New Climates.[1] As Early Clothing Was
Biodegradable, Evidence Of When Humans Started Wearing
Clothes, And What These Clothes Were Made Of, Has Been
Difficult For Scientists To Determine. The Earliest Dates Come
From Studies On The Evolution Of Clothing Lice, Which Suggest
Humans Were Wearing Clothes Sometime Between 83,000 And
170,000 Years Ago.[2] Evidence Of Silk Weaving Has Been Found
In China Dating To 8,500 Years Ago.[3] The Earliest Evidence Of
Cotton Being Used Comes From Cotton Fibers Which Had
Mineralized Inside Copper Beads Found In The Indus Valley At
The Neolithic Site Of Mehrgarh, Dating To C. 6000 BC. Cotton
Spinning Began In India C. 3000 BC.[4]
Textiles Can Be Felt Or Spun Fibers Made Into Yarn And
Subsequently Netted, Looped, Knit Or Woven To Make Fabrics
Which Appeared In The Middle East During The Late Stone Age.
[5] From Ancient Times To The Present Day, Methods Of Textile
Production Have Continually Evolved, And The Choices Of
Textiles Available Have Influenced How People Carry Their
Possessions, Clothed Themselves, And Decorated Their
Surroundings.[6]
Sources Available For The Study Of Clothing And Textiles Include Material Remains Discovered Via Archaeology;[7]
Representation Of Textiles And Their Manufacture In Art; And
Documents Concerning The Manufacture, Acquisition, Use, And
Trade Of Fabrics, Tools, And Finished Garments. Scholarship Of
Textile History, Especially Its Earlier Stages, Is Part Of Material
Culture Studies.

Prehistoric Development
The Development Of Textile And Clothing In Prehistory Has Been
The Subject Of A Number Of Scholarly Studies Since The Late
20th Century.[8][9] These Sources Have Helped To Provide A
Coherent History Of These Prehistoric Developments.
Nonetheless, Scientists Have Never Agreed On When Humans
Began Wearing Clothes And The Estimates Suggested By Various
Experts Have Ranged Greatly, From 40,000 To As Many As 3
Million Years Ago.
Recent Studies By Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser And Mark
Stoneking—Anthropologists At The Max Planck Institute For
Evolutionary Anthropology—Have Attempted To Constrain The
Most Recent Date Of The Introduction Of Clothing With An
Indirect Method Relying On Lice. The Rationale For This Method
Of Dating Stems From The Fact That The Human Body Louse (P.
Humanus Corporus) Cannot Live Outside Of Clothing, Dying
After Only A Few Hours Without Shelter. This Strongly Implies
That The Date Of The Body Louse’s Speciation From Its Parent,
The Human Louse (Pediculus Humanus), Can Have Taken Place
No Earlier Than The Earliest Human Adoption Of Clothing. This
Date, At Which The Body Louse Diverged From Both Its Parent
Species And Its Sibling Subspecies, The Head Louse (P.
Humanus Capitus), Can Be Determined By The Number Of
Mutations Each Has Developed During The Intervening Time.
Such Mutations Occur At A Known Rate And The Date Of
Last-Common-Ancestor For Two Species Can Therefore Be
Estimated From The Difference In Number Of Their Respective
Mutations. These Studies Have Produced Dates Ranging From
40,000 To 170,000 Years Ago, With A 2003 Study Speculating A
Date Of 107,000 Years Ago, And A 2011 Study Confirming The
Most Likely Time Of 170,000 Years Ago.[10]
Kittler, Kayser And Stoneking Suggest That The Invention Of
Clothing May Have Coincided With The Northward Migration Of
Modern Homo Sapiens Away From The Warm Climate Of Africa,
Which Is Thought To Have Begun Between 100,000 And 50,000
Years Ago. A Second Group Of Researchers, Also Relying On The
Genetic Clock, Estimate That Clothing Originated Between
30,000 And 114,000 Years Ago.[11] Some Of These Estimates
Predate The First Known Human Exodus From Africa. However,
Other Hominidae Species, Now Extinct, May Have Also Worn
Clothes And Appear To Have Migrated Earlier.[12] It Follows
That The Lice Which Presently Infest Human Clothing May Have
First Been Acquired By Homo Sapiens In Colder Climates From
The Bodies Or Discarded Clothing Of These Cousin Hominins.
Dating With Direct Archeological Evidence Produces Dates
Consistent With Those Hinted At By Lice. In September 2021,
Scientists Reported Evidence Of Clothes Being Made From
90,000 To 120,000 Years Ago Based On Findings In Deposits In
Morocco.[13][14] However, Despite These Archaeological
Indications And Genetic Evidence, There Is No Single Estimate
That Is Widely Accepted.[15][16][17][18]
Cave Paintings And Pictorial Evidence
Suggest The Existence Of Dress In The
Paleolithic Period, Around 30,000 Years
Ago, Though These Were Skin Drapes.
Textile Clothing Came To Notice Around
27,000 Years Ago, While Actual Textile
Fragments From 7000 B.C. Have Been
Discovered By Archeologists.
Early Adoption Of
Apparel
Sewing Needles Have Been Dated To At
Least 50,000 Years Ago (Denisova Cave,
Siberia)—And Are Likely To Have Been
Made By H. Longi, About 10,000 Years
Before The Arrival Of Neanderthal And
Human Groups In The Cave. The Oldest
Possible Example Is 60,000 Years Ago, A
Needlepoint (Missing Stem And Eye) Found
In Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Other Early
Examples Of Needles Dating From 41,000 To 15,000 Years Ago
Are Found In Multiple Locations, E.G. Slovenia, Russia, China, The Earliest Dyed Flax Fibers Have Been Found In A Prehistoric
Cave In The Republic Of Georgia And Date Back To 36,000.[22]
The 25,000-Year-Old Venus Figurine “Venus Of Lespugue”, Found
In Southern France In The Pyrenees, Depicts A Cloth Or Twisted
Fiber Skirt. Some Other Western Europe Figurines Were
Adorned With Basket Hats Or Caps, Belts Were Worn At The
Waist, And A Strap Of Cloth Wrapped Around The Body Right
Above The Breast. Eastern European Figurines Wore Belts, Hung
Low On The Hips And Sometimes String Skirts. However,
According To Archeologists James M. Adovasio, Soffer And
Hyland, The Garments Are More Likely Ritual Wear, Real Or
Imagined, Which Served As A Signifier Of Distinct Social Categories.[Citation NeededArchaeologists Have Discovered Artifacts From Later Which
Appear To Have Been Used In The Textile Arts: Net Gauges From
5000 B.C., Spindle Needles, And Weaving Sticks.
Ancient Textiles And Clothing
Knowledge Of Ancient Textiles And Clothing Has Expanded In
The Recent Past Due To Modern Technological Developments.
[23] One Of The Earliest Fabrics - After The Initial Use Of
Animal-Skin Textiles - May Have Been Felt.[24] The Earliest
Known Plant-Based Textile From South America Was Discovered
In Guitarrero Cave In Peru. It Was Woven Out Of Vegetable Fiber
And Dates Back To 8,000 B.C.E.[25] Surviving Examples Of
Nålebinding, Another Textile Method Emerging After Animal
Skin Textile Usage, Have Been Found In Israel; They Date From
6500 B.C.
Looms
A Loom Is A Device Or Machine Used
For Weaving Cloth.[27] From Prehistory
Through The Early Middle Ages, For Most Of Europe, The Near East And
North Africa, Two Main Types Of Loom
Dominated Textile Production: The
Warp-Weighted Loom And The Two
Beam Loom. The Length Of The Beam
Determined The Width Of The Cloth
Woven Upon The Loom; It Could Extend
To 2 To 3 Meters.[28] Early Woven
Clothing Was Often Made Of Full Loom
Widths Draped, Tied, Or Pinned In Place.
Large-Scale Fabrics For Clothes Were
Most Likely Produced On The Warp
Weighted Loom In Central European
Prehistory: This Is Evidenced By The
Numerous Finds Of Loom Weights From Prehistoric Settlements.
Even Small Fragments Of Large Textiles Produced On The
Warp-Weighted Loom Can Be Identified By Their Starting Border.

Preservation
Knowledge Of Ancient Cultures Varies Greatly With The Climatic
Conditions To Which Archeological Deposits Are Exposed; The
Middle East, South America And The Arid Fringes Of China Have
Provided Many Very Early Samples In Good Condition, Along
With Textile Impressions In Clay, And Graphic Portrayals. In
Northern Eurasia, Peat Bogs, Rock-Salt Mines, Oak Coffins, And
Permafrost Also Preserved Textiles, With Whole Neolithic
Garments Surviving (Some Of The Most Famous Are Those
Associated With Ötzi (“The Iceman”)), Along With Artifacts
Associated With Textile Production.[30][31] Early Development Of Textiles In The Indian Subcontinent, Sub-Saharan Africa And
Other Moist Parts Of The World Remains Unclear.
Textile Trade In The Ancient World
Throughout The Neolithic And Bronze Ages, The Fertile Grounds
Of The Eurasian Steppe Provided A Setting For A Network Of
Nomadic Communities To Develop And Interact. The Steppe
Route Has Long Connected Regions Of The Asian Continent With
Trade And Transmission Of Culture, Including Clothing.
Around 114 B.C., The Han Dynasty,[32] Initiated The Silk Road
Trade-Route. Geographically, The Silk Road Or Silk Route Is An
Interconnected Series Of Ancient Trade Routes Between
Chang’an (Present-Day Xi’an) In China, Asia Minor And The
Mediterranean, Extending Over 8,000 Km (5,000 Mi) On Land And
Sea. Trade On The Silk Road Was A Significant Factor[Citation
Needed] In The Development Of The Great Civilizations Of
China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, The Indian Subcontinent,
And Rome, And Helped To Lay The Foundations For The Modern
World. The Exchange Of Luxury Textiles Was Predominant On
The Silk Road, Which Linked Traders, Merchants, Pilgrims,
Monks, Soldiers, Nomads And Urban Dwellers From China To
The Mediterranean Sea During Various Periods.

Ancient Near East
The Earliest Known Woven Textiles Of The Near East May Be
Flax Fabrics Used To Wrap The Dead; These Have Been
Excavated At Çatalhöyük In Anatolia. Found In A Neolithic
Grave, And “Protected By Several Layers Of Clay/Plaster, In An
Anaerobic Milieu [...] They Were ‘Baked’, Or ‘Steam Cooked’ (Une
Cuisson A L’étouffée)” In A Fire. Because Of The Absence Of Flax
Seeds At Or Near The Site, The Textile May Have Been Imported
From The Levant.[33] Evidence Exists Of Flax Cultivation From
C. 8000 BC In The Near East, But The Breeding Of Sheep With A
Wooly Fleece Rather Than Hair Occurs Much Later, C. 3000 BC.
[34] Well-Preserved Linen Textiles Found In The Cave Of The
Warrior In Judea Date From Around 3200 BCIn Mesopotamia, The Clothing Of A Regular Sumerian Was Very
Simple, Especially In Summer. Winter Clothes Were Made Of
Sheep Fur. Even Wealthy Men Were Depicted With Naked
Torsos, Wearing Only Short Skirts, Known As Kaunakes, While
Women Wore Long Dresses To Their Ankles. The King Wore A
Tunic And A Coat That Reached To His Knees, With A Belt In The
Middle. Over Time, The Development Of The Craft Of Wool
Weaving In Mesopotamia Led To A Great Variety In Clothing.
Thus, Towards The End Of The 3rd Millennium BC And Later
Men Wore Tunics With Short Sleeves And Even Over The Knees,
With A Belt (Over Which The Rich Wore A Wool Cloak). Women’s
Dresses Featured More Varied Designs: With Or Without
Sleeves, Narrow Or Wide, Usually Long And Without Highlighting
The Body.