Fashion was born in the Paleolithic when were the developed first needles with eyes per to decorate e customize clothing: clothingwhich until then had been seen as a simple protection from the cold, has thus become a means to express one’s identity. This is indicated by the study published in the journal Science Advances by an international research group led by archaeologist Ian Gilligan, from the University of Sydney, Australia.
I first needles with eyes they appeared about 40,000 years ago in Siberiascoring a important progress compared to the old bone awls: to make them, in fact, it was not enough to sharpen the tip of the bone, but it was also necessary to pierce the other end, in order to create the hole (i.e. the eye) through which to pass the tendon or the sewing thread.
Needles with eyes dating back to the last Ice Age (source: Gilligan et al 2024)
The finds so far suggest that bone awls were already being used at the time to create tailored garments, therefore The innovation of the needle with an eye could reflect a new way of creating garments even more complex and layered, perhaps adorned through the application of beads or other small ones decorative elements.
“We know that until the last glacial period clothing was used only occasionally“, observes Gilligan. “The classic instruments associated with this practice were the scrapers for skins or stone scrapers, and we see them appear and disappear during the different phases of the last ice ages.” Towards the end of the last glacial periodin the colder regions of Eurasia, there was a need to continually wear clothes to protect oneself from the cold and in this period their decoration would have replaced that of the body’s skin, now permanently covered and hidden from sight.
“This is why the appearance of eyed needles is particularly important,” Gilligan points out, “because it signals the use of clothing as decoration. Eyed needles would have been particularly useful for the very fine sewing needed to decorate clothing.”
Artistic representation of a decorated dress from the Upper Paleolithic (source: Mariana Ariza)
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