The invention of the needle with an eye initiated the use of clothing as an element of socialization

Madrid. For the first time, research has determined the origins of fashion in the invention of eyed needles, a key technological innovation used to decorate clothing for social and cultural purposes.

This advance of the Paleolithic, whose oldest discovered remains date back 40 thousand years, marks the fundamental change of 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.says in a statement Ian Gilligan, professor of archaeology at the University of Sydney and lead author of the study, published in Science Advances.

From stone tools that prepared animal skins for humans to use as thermal insulation to bone awls and eyed needles that created form-fitting and ornate clothing, why did we start dressing to express ourselves and impress others?

40 thousand years ago

Why do we wear clothes? We assume it is part of human existence, but if we look at different cultures, we realize that people existed and functioned perfectly well in society without clothes.dice Gilligan. What intrigues me is the transition of clothing from being a physical necessity in certain environments to a social necessity in all environments..

The earliest known eyed needles appeared approximately 40 thousand years ago in Siberia. These objects, one of the most iconic Paleolithic artifacts of the Stone Age, are more difficult to manufacture compared to bone awls, which were sufficient to create tight-fitting clothing. Bone awls are tools made from animal bones that are sharpened to a point. Eyed needles are modified bone awls, with a pierced hole (eye) to facilitate the stitching of tendons or thread.

As evidence suggests that bone awls were already used to create tailored clothing, the innovation of eyed needles may reflect the production of more complex, layered clothing, as well as the embellishment of clothing through the attachment of beads and other small decorative elements. The classic tools we associate with them are skin scrapers or stone scrapers, and we find them appearing and disappearing during the different phases of the last ice ages.explains Gilligan, who, with his co-authors, argue that clothing became an item of decoration because traditional methods of body adornment, such as painting skin with ochre, were not possible during the latter part of the last ice age in the colder parts of Eurasia.

This is why the appearance of needles with eyes is particularly important because it indicates the use of clothing as decoration.says Gilligan. Thus, clothing evolved to fulfill not only a practical need for protection and comfort from the external elements, but also a social and aesthetic function of individual and cultural identity.

The regular use of clothing allowed larger and more complex societies to form, as people could move to colder climates while still cooperating with their tribe or community based on shared clothing styles and symbols.