From stone tools used to work animal hides for humans as thermal insulation, to the advent of bone awls and eyed needles used to create tailored and decorated garments, why did we dress to express ourselves and impress others?
Paleolithic Eye Needles and the Evolution of Clothing
Clothing is seen as an important part of shaping what makes us human. The advent of clothing allowed our ancestors to inhabit more corners of the world, access different resources and environments, and connect to a wider community. Today, clothing is associated with identity and status. However, archaeological evidence indicates that clothing, apart from thermal reasons, was not intrinsic to the functioning of society or cultures.
Artist’s impression of decorated, custom-made clothing from the Upper Paleolithic. (Mariana Ariza/University of Sydney)
A team of researchers led by Dr Ian Gilligan, an honorary fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney, is the first to propose that eye needles are a new technological innovation used to decorate clothing for social and cultural purposes. This marks a major shift from clothing as protection to clothing as an expression of identity.
“Eyed needle tools are an important development in prehistory because they document a transition in the function of clothing from utilitarian to social purposes,” said Dr Ian Gilligan.
In their article, Dr. Gilligan and his co-authors reinterpret the evidence from recent discoveries in the development of clothing, Paleolithic Eye Needles and the Evolution of Clothing.
“Why do we wear clothes? We assume it’s a part of being human, but when you look across cultures, you realize that people have been able to function perfectly well in society without clothing,” says Dr. Gilligan. “What intrigues me is the transition of clothing from a physical necessity in certain environments to a social necessity in all environments.”
Morphological variation in the size and shape of Late Pleistocene eye needles.Gilligan et al., 2024)
Paleolithic Eye Needles and the Evolution of Clothing
The earliest known eyed needles appeared in Siberia around 40,000 years ago. Eyed needles are one of the most iconic Paleolithic artifacts from the Stone Age. They are more difficult to make than bone awls, which were sufficient for making fitted clothing. Bone awls are tools made from animal bones that have been sharpened to a point. Eyed needles are modified bone awls, with a perforated hole (eye) to facilitate sewing in sinew or thread.
Evidence shows that bone awls were already used to make tailored clothing. The invention of eye needles may indicate the production of more complex, layered clothing, but also the decoration of clothing by attaching beads and other small decorative objects to garments.
“We know that clothing was only used on an ad hoc basis up until the last ice age. The classic tools that we associate with that are hide scrapers or stone scrapers, and we see them appear and disappear through the different phases of the last ice ages,” Dr Gilligan explains.
Dr. Gilligan and his co-authors argue that clothing became a decorative item because traditional methods of body decoration, such as body painting with ochre or deliberate scarring, were not possible during the latter part of the last ice age in colder parts of Eurasia. People then had to wear clothing all the time to survive.
“That’s why the appearance of needles with eyes is so important, because it indicates the use of clothing as decoration,” says Dr. Gilligan. “Needles with eyes were especially useful for the very fine sewing that was needed to decorate clothing.”
Clothing has thus become not only a practical necessity for protection and comfort against external elements, but also has a social and aesthetic function for individual and cultural identity.
The regular wearing of clothing allowed for larger and more complex societies to form, as people could move to colder climates and still cooperate with their tribe or community based on shared clothing styles and symbols. The skills associated with clothing production contributed to a more sustainable lifestyle and improved the long-term survival and prosperity of human communities.
Covering the human body, regardless of climate, is a social practice that endures. Dr. Gilligan’s future work will go beyond the advent of clothing as clothing and look at the psychological functions and effects of wearing clothing.
“We take it for granted that we feel comfortable wearing clothes and uncomfortable not wearing clothes in public. But how does wearing clothes affect the way we see ourselves, the way we see ourselves as people and perhaps the way we see the environment around us?”
This article was published in Scientific progress.
This article was first published under the title ‘The Beginning of Fashion: Why Do We Wear Clothes?‘ from the University of Sydney.
Top image: Morphological variation in the size and shape of late Pleistocene eye needles. Source: Gilligan et al., 2024