Cotton thread (cotton domestication)

What it is

Cotton fibres preserved inside a copper bead from Mehrgarh, the oldest evidence of cotton (Gossypium arboreum or herbaceum) being used as a textile. A fibre that grows in warm climates and spins easily.

Independent domestication in Peru (Gossypium barbadense, Huaca Prieta, c. 4000 BCE) and in Mesoamerica (G. hirsutum).

What it led to

• The Indus textile industry, the basis of its trade with Mesopotamia
• Lightweight clothing suited to heat
• Cotton growing as a cash crop

Built on

• Loom weaving and spindle whorlc. 6500 BCE

Made possible

• Indigo dye and American cotton textilec. 4000 BCE
• Madder dyeing of cotton with mordantc. 2500 BCE
• Roller cotton gin (charkhi)c. century V
• Narrow-strip loom cotton textiles (Tellem)c. 1050
• Dhaka muslinc. 1600
• Denim (serge de Nîmes)c. 1700
• Mercerisation of cotton1844
• Indus textiles

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229411804_First_Evidence_of_Cotton_at_Neolithic_Mehrgarh_Pakistan_Analysis_of_Mineralized_Fibres_from_a_Copper_Bead