Fashion has been a great part of our history as humans even from prehistoric times. Besides being a way to protect our bodies from the environment, it has also been a method that influenced how people were seen in society, either a way to attract potential mates or scare their enemies.
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The Homo sapiens sapiens began to appear around forty
thousand years ago in various parts of the world. At the early history of Homo
sapiens sapiens, he was similar to the Neanderthal man when it came to the use
of tools, hunting, gathering and even creation of clothing. But there were
physical differences like a larger brain, the fully upright pose, and a
different skeletal structure which helped the later developments in their
history.
Their population was low as they had to travel from region
to region and due the fact that the Earth’s climate was colder they had to find
ways to keep warm and dry so they used animal skins. These were the first forms
of clothing and footwear. They used different tools made from rock and bones to
cut the flesh from animals and create clothing. Later, there was some
development in the visual department as they managed to decorate their bodies
with various body paints and tattoos.
Evidence
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The evidence we have for prehistoric clothing is mostly
indirect, either from cave paintings or from the tools that archeologists
discovered. At first, they used big pieces of skin and created holes for the
head and arms but later they managed to improve their method by using thin
strips of hide to tie the furs about themselves, just like belts are used
today.
With the discovery of fire soon came the development of
finer and more efficient tools. Sharper tools were used to make small holes in
animal skin and then laced together. The first type of clothing was a sort of
tunic, which was made from two pieces of rectangular animal hide that were
bound together on a side with a hole for the head. This was placed over the
head and stitched on the shoulders. The garment was closed either with a belt
or more ties.
Development of Tools
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What made things even better was the invention of the needles.
The needle was made from sharpened animal bone. With the help of the needle,
the prehistoric man managed to create shawls, hoods and even longer boots to
protect him from cold. It seems that the clothes were very stiff at first
because the leather was not tanned, but with repetitive wearing it became
softer. It seems that some authors and historians believe that their clothes
were similar to those of the modern Eskimos.
The body of a man who died 5,300 years ago in the mountains
of Austria helped archeologists discover what seemed to be a complex outfit.
It seemed that the iceman had leggings that were sewn, some sort of loincloth
over his genitals, a long sleeved fur coat on his body that extended to his
knees made from many pieces of fur that extended on the outside and was held
with a sort of belt. The boots he wore were stitched and stuffed with grass and
on his head he wore a cap of fur. Although the man came from an later period,
it sketched a good image on how earlier clothes were made.
Headwear
When it came to hair it seems that the different hair types
were as variable as they are today but people wore their hair long as there
were no tools for cutting hair. Caps of fur were worn to keep the head warm, and
some jewelry that was intended to hold long hair. Men obviously wore their
facial hair long and when hair was cut it was probably done with the same tools
they used to chop wood or cut animals.
Body Decorations
There is some evidence of body decorations on Neanderthal humans
from 75,000 B.C.E. so it seems that humans had a need for fashion even from the
earliest times. They draw red designs on the body which was either trying to
attract the opposite sex or frighten their enemies. Indirect evidence of the
human body decorations comes from rock paintings of the Sahara desert. It seems
that the oldest date from 7000 B.C.E while the earliest are from 1500 B.C.E.
Paintings found in Algeria show a woman with parallel rows of dots running down
her legs, arms and torso. The figurines from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, dating back to
8000 B.C.E. feature indented patterns around the buttocks and belly. There are
also figurines from 5000 B.C.E. Mesopotamia and 3000 B.C.E. Romania that show
evidence of similar markings on legs, arms and breasts. These markings were
meant to make women more appealing to the opposite sex as they signified
fertility. It was sort of a way to draw attention to the women’s qualities and
probably the primary function of fashion throughout history.
Body decorations were used by men as camouflage while
hunting or for different ritual or social occasions. They also used tattooing
or scarification but besides these methods the Neanderthals also like wearing
decorative items. They had various bracelets and necklaces that consisted of
animal hide, beads, shells, teeth, bones or other small objects.
Footwear
When it came to footwear the archeologists found the oldest
shoes 10,000 years old, but the existence of 20,000 years old clothing suggests
that footwear may be older than we know.
Once the first settlements appeared(Mesopotamia, centered in
present-day Iraq near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), around 7000 B.C.E.,
people started to domesticate animals, grow their own food and completely
change their appearance. In Mesopotamia was where clothing began to be made
from something else than animal skin.
It seems that people placed their feet on the animal skin
just after they killed it, while the skin was still subtle and fresh they made
cuts that would have fitted their feet shape. Anasazi shoes were made from
Yucca plant as it was quite a durable material. There were 8000 year old shoes
discovered in Missouri made from a plant called rattlesnake master.
Whether their clothes and shoes were made of fibers or
animal skin, one thing is for sure, it had to withstand a lot of work as people
did a lot of hard labor.
Further Reading and Sources:
History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland: Prehistory to 1950
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Scribner Library of Daily Life) (3 Volumes Set)
Further Reading and Sources:
History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland: Prehistory to 1950
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Scribner Library of Daily Life) (3 Volumes Set)
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