Who invented clothes? A Palaeolithic archaeologist answers
Hadley Freeman’s answer to the question was chiffon-flimsy, so here’s the lab-coat response
- by Rebecca Wragg-Sykes
““Who invented clothes?” It’s one of those brilliant questions that children ask, before they learn that the big things we wonder about rarely have simple answers. It’s the kind of thing that archaeologists like me get put on the spot about when chatting to kids, and we love to have a crack at answering.
Saturday’s “Ask a grown up” section featured just that question, from eight-year old Harriet, with an answer by Hadley Freeman, fashionexpert and fantastic writer. Hadley’s response was, as usual, entertainingly breezy, with some refreshing encouragement to Harriet to experiment in developing her own style; but, like a fine chiffon, it was a little flimsy in substance.
I’m proud to be involved with ScienceGrrl, which aims to show girls that science is for everyone by providing diverse role models, andTrowelBlazers, a new project that is all about bringing to the fore the achievements of pioneering women archaeologists, geologists and palaeontologists. So I was kind of disappointed that a girl asking a genuine question about archaeology ended up with the barest of facts, as well as being told, even if it was meant lightheartedly, that the grown-up answering her question would rather she pay attention to what she looks like.
Hadley knows today’s fashion world inside out and might not care much about pre-silk times, but I’ll bet that Harriet wanted to find out more than what the Flintstones wear.
It’s this kind of response that can, in aggregate, have a negative impact on children: being mentally curious ends up as something deeply uncool and not relevant to modern life. I’m not advocating force-feeding facts Vulcan-style when talking to young people – far from it. They like to be challenged and humour is a great way to do this. But I do think we should take every chance we get to pass on the incredible stuff that we’ve found out about our world thanks to science – including archaeology – and keep on showing girls that using their brains by asking big questions is, actually, absolutely fabulous.
So for Harriet, if you’re reading: there’s a whole lot we know about the invention of clothing. Many TV reconstructions and book illustrations of stone age (Palaeolithic) people really don’t do them justice. People were already making finely worked bone needles 20,000 years ago, probably for embroidery as much as sewing animal skins, like the thousands of ivory beads and fox teeth that covered the bodies of a girl and a boy buried at Sunghir, Russia, around 28,000 years ago. This was some serious bling, representing years of accumulated work.
And – caveman stereotypes aside – stone age clothes weren’t just animal skins. We’ve known since the 1990s that people were weaving fabric back then, revealed by impressions in baked clay from the sites of Pavlov and Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic. We don’t actually know for sure that these were used for clothes, but the materials weren’t heavy duty, and the variety in weaving styles suggests a long tradition. And at Dzudzuana Cave in Georgia, 30,000 year old spun plant fibres were found which had been dyed: pink, black and turquoise blue!
But what about the really old stuff (because 30,000 years ago isn’t really old in human evolution)? As Harriet asks, who were the first fashionistas? People are still debating what, if anything, our close relatives the Neanderthals were wearing” (read more).
- Becky Wragg Sykes (@LeMoustier) is a postdoctoral researcher working on Neanderthal archaeology. She blogs atwww.therocksremain.org and is part of the TrowelBlazers team (@trowelblazers)
We approached this topic in our “archeologist looks at death” class
Going to senior awards night made me feel subpar.
125 Year Old Woman Claimed Smoking Pot Everyday Was Her Secret to Long Life
A 125-year-old woman, said to be one of the oldest women in India, died at her home in Orissa, her family said Sunday. Fulla Nayak claimed that smoking cannabis every day was her secret to long lif…
(Source: psychedelonaut, via pigyouth)
(Source: lettertojane, via softerprettier)
These are conjoined twins born in cape coast by a 16 year old girl.
The babies are doing well at the Central regional hospital but have been abandoned by the parents who call the twins an abomination.
The babies may be adopted any moment soon per close sources.
Hope that happens,hope the babies get better.
(via museum-of-odd)
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