A hole in a bone awl must have been one of the great drivers of human expansion in its beginnings. For hundreds of thousands of years, early hominid species did not need much shelter; the climate in most of Africa made it unnecessary. However, as they expanded further north, the fossil record shows how they became sheltered. No clothing has been preserved, but an increasing number of tools to make it have been preserved. At first they were simple flakes to tear off and cut the skins, but later awls and burins appeared to make holes and sew them. But the great innovation, led by sapiens, was sewing needles. With them, the first humans not only dressed to protect themselves even better from the cold, it also allowed them to use the garments as a form of expression, as a culture.
In a review of the scientific literature published in Science Advances Researchers Ian Gilligan from the University of Sydney (Australia) and Francesco d’Errico from the Universities of Bordeaux (France) and Bergen (Norway) show how clothing emerged in humanity’s past. Together with colleagues from Chinese and Russian universities, they have compiled and reviewed the data preserved in the fossil record. Not of clothing, of which only a few shreds have been preserved, but of the tools to make it. In their work, they conclude that first there was the need to protect oneself from the cold, but very soon the social dimension of clothing was added.
“Archaeological evidence indicates that eyed needles first appeared in southern Siberia about 40,000 years ago, followed by northern China between 35,000 and 30,000 years ago,” says Gilligan, author of the book Climate, clothing and agriculture in prehistory (not translated into Spanish). At that time and in those latitudes, it was very cold. The Earth was going through the central part of the last ice age. And in those lands three different species of humans lived and were able to coexist, the Denisovans, the Neanderthals and the Sapiens. In the Denisova cave complex, located in the Altai massif, in Siberia, where the first needles have been found. As the authors say, in their work, simply opening a hole in a bone tool was a radical innovation: “Eyed needles made sewing more efficient by combining two separate processes into one: punching holes in the skins and pass the tendons or fibers through the holes.”
Until then, tools were only used to cut skins and little else. Evidence such as paleoenvironmental reconstructions, fauna remains and comparisons with current traditional societies suggest that Neanderthals used more simple garments, such as ponchos. However, the discovery of awls and burins in Neanderthal sites in southern Europe dating back more than 100,000 years suggests that they could also have made garments by making holes and joining different skins together, so that they fit the body better, thus achieving better thermal insulation. That is the key: fitting clothing as tightly as possible to the body helps to better conserve human heat. And needles allowed us to go further, with the creation of multiple garments: adding another layer almost doubles the insulation capacity.
“The first eye needles from Siberia and China were quite different in size and shape, so we believe they were invented separately.”
Ian Gilligan, University of Sydney
Following the trail of the cold, we can follow that of sewing needles and that of humans in their expansion. There are no needles in previous human sites on the African continent and there are hardly any at the time they appear in Eurasia. “The first eyed needles from Siberia and China were quite different in size and shape, so we think they were invented separately,” says Gilligan. They did not reach Europe until several millennia later. We would have to wait for the emergence of the Solutrean culture in the south of present-day France and the north of the Iberian Peninsula to find them, about 26,000 years ago. Again, the key must have been climate: “During the last ice age, the climate in Europe was not as cold as in Siberia. The difference in temperatures and the thermal sensation of the wind can explain why needles with eyes appeared earlier in Siberia than in Europe,” adds the Australian researcher. That doesn’t mean that Sapiens didn’t already sew their clothes. The discovery last year of a bone object used to pierce and sew leather suggests that it was already done 40,000 years ago on what is now the Catalan coast.
“The main function of the first clothing was thermal insulation,” recalls Francesco D’Errico, co-author of the work. “As early humans migrated from Africa and encountered colder climates, the need for protection from the elements became crucial for survival. The leather and animal skins provided warmth and essential protection against wind, rain and snow,” he adds. His colleague Gilligan highlights his role in prehistory: “Needles with eyes were fundamental to the expansion of the Homo sapiens “in very cold environments during the last ice age” and recalls that “even Neanderthals, who were physically better adapted to the cold than we are, but lacked needles with eyes, never reached northern Siberia, as far as we know”. In fact, needles already exist in the first archaeological sites in northern Siberia and they are found in Alaska, coinciding with the passage of humans to America.
The authors also suggest that needles may have made it easier to make underwear. But neither D’Errico nor Gilligan can confirm this. “The production of underwear can leave very little or no trace in the archaeological records, so it is possible that it was already used a long time ago,” recalls the first, who adds, “what is important to note is that for a long time “About 26,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in Eurasia began to produce needles of different sizes, many of which are compatible with sewing underwear.”
Before needles reached the western edge of Europe, there was already a relatively large textile activity. The most striking case, without a doubt, is that of the Isturitz cave, near the town of Saint-Martin-d’Arberoue, in the French Basque Country. “It is an extraordinary site due to the richness of its fossil record,” says the archaeologist from the University of the Basque Country. One of the layers of the stratum, from 30,000 years ago, looks like a puff pastry in which “several thousand burins appeared,” he says. As to what could be done with them, Calvo can only speak of hypotheses: “Due to the few traces of bone and the evidence [realizaron una serie de experimentos usando los objetos con distintos materiales]”They should have been used with a soft material, which fits with animal skin, with leather.”
This site belongs to the Gravettian culture, which flourished between present-day France and Spain until about 22,000 years ago. From this time, no fabrics have been found either, but “perforated beads were distributed around the body, in such a way that they could only be objects sewn to clothing,” says Calvo. The Gravettian was succeeded by the Solutrean culture, which also spread throughout southern Iberia and coincided with the climax of the Ice Age. It was in this culture that the first needles appeared on the Peninsula. “It is when the burins disappear from the cave record, but relating it to the arrival of the needles is risky,” warns the archaeologist.
Although the protective function of clothing predates its decorative uses, everything indicates that its social role emerged soon after. “Very soon, humans probably began to use clothing as ornament and social signalling,” says D’Errico. “This transition can be observed in the adornment of garments with beads, but it is very likely that this dimension was integrated into clothing from very early on,” he adds. For him, the social functions of clothing must have been quite similar to those seen in traditional societies, in addition to thermal insulation, it would cover aspects such as group identity, gender differentiation, social status or ceremonial use. However, there would be “a gradual change in the weight of each of these functions, whereby protection, group identity and gender would have more at the beginning and social status would become increasingly important.”
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The original occupant of an Egyptian sarcophagus was unknown. Then a tiny ornament revealed a very big name
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A sarcophagus discovered in 2009 in an Egyptian burial chamber came with a complicated history: Ancient writing on the stone container showed that it had been used twice, but while its second occupant, the 21st dynasty high priest Menkheperre, was known, the first owner had remained a mystery — until now.
New clues have surfaced as a result of Frederic Payraudeau, an associate professor in Egyptology at Sorbonne University in Paris, reexamining a fragment of the granite sarcophagus and deciphering the hieroglyphs engraved on it. Tucked away in the cartouche, an oval-shaped ornament often found in tombs, he found a name of a very recognizable figure: Ramesses II.
Payraudeau said the inscription is evidence that the artifact was originally from the tomb of the famous pharaoh and had been reused after looting.
“Clearly, this was the sarcophagus of a king,” Payraudeau said. “The cartouche dates back to its first usage, and contains Ramesses II’s throne name, Usermaatra. He was the only pharaoh to use this name during his time, so that cleared any doubt that it was his sarcophagus.”
The findings, published in the journal Revue d’Egyptologie, add to the lore of Ramesses II, also known as Ozymandias and one of Egypt’s most celebrated pharaohs. It also fills a gap in our understanding of how sarcophagi were used to entomb kings.
Ramesses II was the third king of the 19th dynasty, and his reign — from 1279 to 1213 BC — was the second longest in the history of Egypt. He was known for his victorious military campaigns and an interest in architecture, which led him to order up important monuments and statues of himself. His mummy is at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
Another coffin belonging to Ramesses II was discovered in 1881 near Luxor, but the sarcophagus fragment analyzed in the study was found in Abydos, a city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the northwest in a straight line.
“That is less bizarre than it seems,” Payraudeau said, “because we know his tomb was looted in the antiquity, maybe two centuries after his death, and he’s certainly not the only king to have been looted.”
The granite fragment, which is a nearly complete part of the longer side of the sarcophagus, was previously believed to have belonged to a prince. “But I always found this strange, because the decoration on this carefully crafted piece was indicative of a king, and had elements traditionally reserved for kings,” Payraudeau said.