Discovery of what could be the oldest proof of clothing

La fabrication de vêtements et la préparation des textiles peut paraître évidente, mais en réalité, elle requiert beaucoup de technique, de la rigueur et surtout, des outils spécialement conçus. L’Homme se différencie des autres espèces par son intelligence exceptionnelle, mais à quand remontent les origines des vêtements ? Des chercheurs ont découvert, dans une grotte au Maroc, ce qui pourrait être la plus ancienne preuve de fabrication de vêtements, datant d’il y a 120 000 ans.

The anthropologist and archaeologist Emily Hallett and his team of researchers, of the Max Planck Institute for the science of human history in Germany, made this discovery by studying a certain number of bone fragments found in the cave of smugglers, an important archaeological site located on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, near Temara.The study was published in the journal ISCIENCE.

More than 60 bones of animals shaped by humans

Of the 12,000 bone fragments found on the site, Hallett identified more than 60 animal bones that had been shaped by humans to serve as tools.The patterns of the cutting marks on the bones corresponded to tools found on other archaeological sites which had been used to treat leather.

"It is extremely improbable that organic materials such as leather and fur keep in such old deposits, therefore as an audioologists, we find ourselves with elements of evidence, which include tools and bones of animal animalswho keep brands of counting, ”Hallett told Sciencealart."We can bring together these evidence and suggest that humans used bone tools to prepare leather and fur that were probably used for clothing".

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However, researchers note that these evidence is not completely conclusive."These bone tools may have been used to prepare leather for other purposes than clothing, such as storage devices," added Hallett.The fact remains that fur and leather clothes would have been particularly advantageous for humans at that time.

By leaving Africa, the first humans had to face new environments, or even habitats in the extreme climate.Clothes and other tools have probably contributed to the dispersion of humans in new environments around the world.For fur, the humans of the smuggler cave were down carnivores.

"In this cave, there are three species of carnivores with boxing brands on their bones: the Rüppell fox, the golden jackal and the wild cat," said Hallett."The cutting marks on the bones of these carnivores are limited to the areas where the incisions are made to remove the fur, and there are no cutting marks on the skeleton areas associated with the withdrawal of the meat".

An origin of even older clothes in Africa?

Regarding leather, several species of bovids have been found on the site."BUBAL, Aurochs and Gazelles bones were found in great abundance in the cave, and these animals have also been consumed by humans because there are cutting marks associated with the removal of meat ontheir bones, ”added Hallett.

Hallett thinks that given the specialization of these tools, they are probably part of a larger and older tradition.To add weight to that, genetic studies on the lices of clothing, carried out by other researchers, suggest an origin of clothes at least 170,000 years ago in Africa.

"These tools were most likely used for clothing, and it is interesting that archaeological archives and genetic evidence both indicate an ancient origin in Africa," adds Hallett.There may still be unknown sites in Africa that are waiting to be discovered with tools and evidence that could further shed light on the history of clothing in humans.

Although this study used a magnification of 40x to identify the traces of wear on the bone tools interpreted as having been used for counting, the researchers did not use magnification 100x-500x to directly determine the (s)contact (x) material on which each bone tool has been used.Such additional analysis could be done in the future, by the same team or by others, in order to provide additional evidence or important details.

Source : iScience