Hide clothing
Vestimenta de pieles curtidas
- Date
- c. 120 ka · confidence medium
- Place
- Contrebandiers Cave, Témara, Morocco
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Specialised bone spatulas for skinning and scraping carnivore hides, alongside bones with flaying marks. They indicate the production of fur and hide garments.
Genetic evidence from the body louse (Pediculus humanus corporis) places the origin of clothing between 170 and 83 ka. Neanderthals used hide smoothers (lissoirs) 50,000 years ago.
What it led to
- Colonisation of cold climates and high latitudes
- Modesty, decoration and social distinction through dress
- Demand for needles, thread and tanning: an embryonic textile industry
Built on
- Ochre pigment usec. 300 ka
- Ochre pigment use
Made possible
- Eyed bone needlec. 50 ka
- Cordage (twisted fibre string)c. 50 ka
- Bone-and-hide tent structurec. 44 ka
- Footwearc. 40 ka
- Chrome tanning1884
- Eyed bone needle
- Cordage (twisted fibre string)