麻豆传媒

Venus figurines are most famous for their sexual features. These often-voluptuous carvings of female forms, made between around 30,000 and 20,000 years ago, have been interpreted as ritual fertility figures, mother goddesses and self-portraits. One thing they are generally not seen as is fashion plates. Yet some of them provide tantalising glimpses of what the well-dressed Stone Age woman was wearing. One, from Kostenki in Russia, sports a wrap-style robe with straps. Others have string skirts. And the famous Venus of Willendorf wears just a woven hat 鈥� but a very fine one.

These statuettes are a far cry from our popular conception of prehistoric humans draped in animal furs. The lavish detail with which their garments are depicted indicates the importance of clothing to societies tens of thousands of years ago, according to archaeologist , professor emerita at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Something that began as a necessity, to keep people warm, had by then morphed into a canvas for aesthetic expression and meaning. Now, the story of how that happened has taken a twist, thanks to some new discoveries.

Clothing is perishable, and the oldest remains are only around . But, as the Venus figurines illustrate, we can follow trends back in time in other ways. These archaeological clues reveal the origins of both simple capes and complex tailoring to be remarkably ancient. Most surprising, though, is research into the technology most strongly associated with clothing, needles. This is now revealing how our ancestors transformed clothing from a utility into a social necessity and means of self-expression.

鈥淲earing clothes and not appearing naked in public may seem perfectly natural for us, but this habit is really very unusual,鈥� says at the University of Sydney, Australia. 鈥淭here are no other animal species that use clothes.鈥� Admittedly, there are rare examples of non-human animals adorning their bodies with items and passing on this trend to their peers 鈥� orcas wearing salmon hats, for instance, and chimps choosing to put a 鈥� but humans take getting dressed to a completely different level.

To understand how this came about, we need to go back around 2 million years, which is when our ancestors are thought to have lost their fur. This, combined with an enhanced ability to sweat, would have helped them survive in the hot, dry climate that prevailed in parts of Africa at that time. However, the lack of body fur became a distinct disadvantage later when the climate got colder, and also when these hominins moved to cooler regions. Being inventive species, though, our ancient ancestors devised ways to overcome this thermal obstacle. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have clothing from that time,鈥� says Gilligan. 鈥淏ut we do have indirect evidence in a number of areas.鈥�

The first hints that hominins were covering up come from flat stone tools called hide scrapers, which begin to appear around 500,000 years ago. These were used to clean the inside of hides, which is an essential step in the production of fur clothing. This development corresponds with a key turning point in Earth鈥檚 climate. Not only did average temperatures become cooler, but there were extreme temperature swings over timescales for which it wouldn鈥檛 be possible to evolve the traits needed to cope, such as regrowing fur. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite incredible to see this coincidence between the first evidence of use-wear on stone tools for working skin, and the fact that at 500,000 to 400,000 years ago you come into this period which is both colder and sometimes experiencing very rapid climate change,鈥� says at the University of Bordeaux, France.

Utility wear

But our ancestors鈥� commitment to clothing was not yet complete. Hide scrapers are , compared with warmer ones. 鈥淭his indicates that people wore clothes to keep warm when necessary but went naked when the weather improved,鈥� says Gilligan. In other words, clothing was utilitarian and only used on an ad hoc basis.

More clues about early clothing come from distinctive cut marks on bones that signify an animal was skinned for its fur. For instance, analysis of bones at Contrebandiers cave in Morocco suggests that at least 90,000 years ago. Meanwhile, , probably Neanderthal, show that they were wearing shoes around 120,000 years ago in what is now Greece. Then there are lice. Genetic studies indicate that by at least 83,000 years ago and as far back as 170,000 years ago. This suggests that some human populations were wearing clothes well before then. Lice need to feed on human blood at least every three or four days, so this speciation 鈥渕arks the beginning of wearing clothes on a fairly regular basis鈥�, says Gilligan.

At first, clothes were utilitarian and only worn on an ad hoc basis

The first clothes were probably loose garments such as capes and poncho-style cloaks 鈥� easy to make, but not so warm in very cold conditions. However, thanks to rare discoveries from the past two decades, we now know that this began to change around 75,000 years ago when people in southern Africa invented a new type of tool called an awl. These piercing implements fashioned from bone would have made it possible to make seams, leading to tighter-fitting clothing. The in South Africa, and an analysis of the wear marks indicate that they were used to such as well-prepared hide. Awls turn up in Carpenter鈥檚 Gap in Australia around 47,000 years ago and in Europe from around 45,000 years ago, after which they became an increasingly of the people living in these regions.

Inventing underwear

Further evidence that clothes were becoming more fitted was found in 2023. Analysis of a 39,000-year-old bone fragment discovered in Spain suggested it was a punch board used for making holes to create seams in leather. A strange pattern of notches in the bone appear to have been formed when a chisel-like stone tool called a burin was knocked through a hide 鈥� a method still used today by cobblers and in traditional societies. Thread could then be pushed through holes to make a tight seam.

These tools and techniques are significant, because they allowed people to create fitted clothing and don multiple layers of garments 鈥搃t was the beginning, if you like, of underwear. And this warmer clothing enabled people to expand into places they were not physiologically suited to. It may even help explain why Homo sapiens thrived after migrating to Europe around 45,000 years ago during the last glacial period, whereas Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago. at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and his colleagues found that sites occupied by Neanderthals contained fewer bones of animals with pelts that make good clothing, such as bears, bison and deer. In addition, unlike the H. sapiens sites, there were no traces of animals with a mix of long and short hairs 鈥� like weasels, wolverines and dogs 鈥� whose super-warm pelts would have made an ideal trim for hoods and sleeves. Neanderthal clothing has been much debated, with some researchers arguing that . suggest that they used only cape-like clothing, which may not have been enough when temperatures plummeted.

Needles mark the point when clothing became a form of self-expression

So far, so functional. What changed to turn utilitarian clothing into fashion? It can鈥檛 have been a cognitive leap because humans clearly had an urge to adorn themselves long before this. indicate that people were making necklaces at least 142,000 years ago. And there is plenty more evidence that, as well as jewellery, we have a long tradition of altering our bodies with tattoos and scars, and painting them with the red pigment ochre. Instead, the innovation appears to have been a technological one. And this is where needles come in.

Archaeologists once considered the invention of needles to represent the dawn of clothing, but we now know this happened long after people began to make tailored garments, says d鈥橢rrico. Eyed needles were created with a simple amendment to the awl 鈥� the addition of a hole in which to insert thread. Made from animal bones, ivory or antlers, and requiring a big investment in time and skill to manufacture, needles first appear in the archaeological record around 40,000 years ago, in Denisova cave in Siberia, but were rare until the colder temperatures of the last glacial maximum 23,000 to 19,000 years ago. Eyed needles seem to have been around 30,000 years ago. The finest of all, however, were made by the first people to reach North America, and they must have been key to producing the tailored clothing needed to survive in the frigid north of the continent.

Early humans spread as far north as Siberia 400,000 years ago

A site in Siberia has evidence of human presence 417,000 years ago, raising the possibility that hominins could have reached North America much earlier than we thought

But now a new study by Gilligan, d鈥橢rrico and others, investigating why needles were invented, highlights how an overlooked aspect of this innovation transformed the way people dressed. The researchers argue that needles didn鈥檛 just allow our ancestors to make more functional garments, they could also through embroidery or the attachment of decorative items such as beads, shells and feathers. In other words, needles mark the point when clothing became a form of self-expression.

Dramatic evidence for the importance of decorated garments, and the lengths people went to create them, comes from of a man and two children 34,000 years ago at Sungir near Moscow. Their bodies are covered in huge numbers of beads that must have once been attached to clothing. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got thousands of mammoth ivory beads that were around the skeletons, and they鈥檙e in such a pattern that clearly show they were sewn onto separate sleeves and shirts and trousers,鈥� says Gilligan.

Revolution in cultural evolution

The ability to decorate clothing through the development of fine needles may not sound like much, but Gilligan argues it marks a quantum leap in human cultural evolution. 鈥淲hat eyed needles confirm is this transition in the function of clothing from a thermal necessity to a social necessity,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople have transferred the important social and psychological functions of body adornment from the naked skin surface 鈥� with body painting and scarification, and tattooing 鈥� onto the surface of clothing.鈥� As today, what someone wore carried messages about their identity. 鈥淐lothing moves from being just functional to taking on these other symbolic aspects鈥� as a way of broadcasting who you are,鈥� says at the University of Victoria, Canada. This means that when strangers met, their clothing would advertise information about them such as which ethnic group they belonged to, their social status and even which language they spoke.

Gilligan believes clothing became a social necessity in mid-latitude Eurasia during a period of heightened cold between 40,000 and 22,000 years ago. If so, then the materials worn weren鈥檛 limited to fur and leather. By this stage, textiles made out of wool and woven plant material had been invented too. Their origins are far from clear. But we do know that Neanderthals were capable of making three-ply string 50,000 years ago. And imprints of clothing left on ceramics show that H. sapiens living at Moravia in the Czech Republic were .

30,000-year-old spun flax was dyed black, grey, turquoise and pink

Then, of course, there are the Venus figurines. Although some, including the Venus of Willendorf, are undoubtedly clothed in textiles, others wear fur. These include carved . 鈥淭hey鈥檙e wearing head-to-toe clothing,鈥� says Nowell, complete with hoods. Although they may not have dressed in the latest fabrics, they have another story to tell. Analysis of their surface has revealed that they were 鈥� red, blue and green 鈥� hinting that clothing from this time was vividly coloured. More evidence to back up this idea comes from the discovery that found in Georgia was dyed black, grey, turquoise and pink. 鈥淭his has totally changed how I imagined that world,鈥� says Nowell.

Mind-boggling skills

That鈥檚 not the only way this research challenges our preconceptions about Stone Age people. 鈥淭he study of clothing can help us understand things like planning, forethought and intergenerational knowledge transfer,鈥� says Nowell. In today鈥檚 industrialised societies, with a wealth of garments readily available in the shops, it is easy to forget the immense amount of skill that goes into making clothes, especially when you have to source and create the raw material 鈥� animal hides, wool or plant fibres 鈥� yourself. 鈥淚t鈥檚 mind-boggling, when you think about it, all the different kinds of technologies and knowledge of materials,鈥� says Nowell. 鈥淎nd then how do you teach that over generations 鈥� the dyeing, the aesthetics of it? Those are things that are learned from one generation to another. It鈥檚 a massive, cumulative knowledge.鈥�

Some researchers even think that the skills our ancestors honed to make clothing could have sparked other technological innovations. For instance, in a study published in 2024, researchers suggest clothing production . They believe that 12,000-year-old stone objects found in Israel were spindle whorls, devices still used today to spin thread. This would make them an early example of rotation technology, incorporating ideas essential for creating the first wheels, which are thought to have emerged some 6000 years later.

But it was the invention of the needle that transformed clothing into what it is today. With clothes being worn on a regular basis in certain societies, and not just for utilitarian reasons, notions of modesty around the naked body arose. And the rest, as they say, is history 鈥� not just our dedication to fashion but also the fact that most of us wouldn鈥檛 be seen dead in public without clothes, even when we don鈥檛 need them to keep warm.