The eyed needle — a sewing tool made of bones, antlers or ivory that first appeared around 40,000 years ago in southern Siberia — might be hiding important clues about the beginnings of fashion, a new study has found. Researchers looked at existing archaeological evidence from dozens of sites across Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, southern Africa and Australia, where ancient tools used to make clothes had been discovered, according to the research published June 28 in the journal Science Advances. The circumstances surrounding eyed needles raised a number of questions.
“Eyed needles made sewing more efficient and reflected the advent of fitted or tailored clothing,” said lead study author Ian Gilligan, honorary associate in the discipline of archaeology at the University of Sydney in Australia. However, historical evidence exists for earlier tools that were used for making clothes, albeit with less precision. “So why did eyed needles start to appear in the colder parts of Eurasia as the climate was getting colder, from around 40,000 years ago and leading into the peak of the last glacial period, around 22,000 years ago?” According to Gilligan, this enhanced precision might have served a purpose beyond tailoring for prehistoric humans: self-expression.
“During the colder parts of the last ice age, people needed to cover their bodies more or less continuously,” he said, adding that clothing would have nullified some traditional ways of decorating the bo.