Rosencrance/Science Advances
Fragments of stitched elk skin and an additional fragment wrapped in fiber, found in a cave.
Moose skin fragments were cooked, investigation shows. They served to offer warmth and protection, but it is not known for now what the original piece would have looked like.
Two small fragments of elk skinheld together by a cord of twisted fibers and preserved for around 12,400 years in a rock shelter in the high desert of Oregon, USA, may even be the oldest known traces of sewing and perhaps the oldest pieces of clothing in the world.
The remains, just a few centimeters square, show clear signs of having been sewn: a string passes through one of the skins, comes out and enters a second fragment.
Radiocarbon dating places them in the end of the last Ice Ageaccording to a team led by archaeologist Richard Rosencrancefrom the University of Nevada, who describes the finding in a February 4 article in Science Advances.
Along with these fragments, they were also recovered in the same context. stone tools and bone needlesevidence that the native inhabitants of the region produced clothing. Investigators suspect the skins are remnants of a piece designed to provide warmth and protection to the user, although the original shape of the garment remains uncertain.
The materials come from the Cougar Mountain cave, a shelter in an arid area where excavations carried out in the 1950s collected several artifacts. In private hands for decades, according to , the fragments were recently made available for scientific analysis, along with 54 other objects from the area.
Among these items are other skins, from elk, bison, rabbit, hare and fox, and ropes made from strips of skin and vegetable fibers, possibly from a species of reed. This type of cordage could have multiple uses in the daily lives of our ancestors.
A small portion of braided fibers (an early form of weaving), which may have integrated a bag, basket or mat.
The survival of organic materials for so many millennia is rare; in this case, the extreme aridity of the environment will have been decisive for conservation.
