Fragments stitched together were preserved in a desert cave for more than 12,000 years
Two small pieces of elk hide, connected by a cord of twisted fibers and preserved for approximately 12,400 years in an Oregon rock shelter, are the the first sewn items ever found. Measuring only a few centimeters square, these fragments could also be the oldest pieces of clothing in the world.
They’re “definitely sewn, because we have ropes sewn into one skin that come right out and go into another piece of skin,” says archaeologist Richard Rosencrance of the University of Nevada, Reno. Radiocarbon dating places the skins at the end of the last ice age, he and his colleagues report February 4 in Scientific advances. Stone tools and bone needles recovered with the hides indicate that the cave’s Native American inhabitants made clothing. His team suspects that the skins are remnants of a garment intended to provide warmth and protection to the wearer.
The mysterious objects were recovered in the 1950s from Cougar Mountain Cave in the Oregon high desert. They have been in private hands ever since, but were recently made available to scientists for analysis, along with 54 other artifacts from the area. These include fragments of elk, bison, rabbit, hare and fox hides, as well as ropes made from strips of hide and plant fibers – perhaps a type of rush.
The ropes “could have been used for a wide variety of things, says Rosencrance. Meanwhile, a bundle of fibers intertwined (an early form of weaving) to form a raw textile could have been used to make a bag, basket or rug.”
Artifacts made of biological material generally do not survive as long as these. The region’s ultra-dry air was crucial to their preservation. In particular, the the oldest pants in the world — which date back to 3,000 years ago — were also found in a desert.