The first known humans to make

clothing, Neanderthal man, survived

from about 200,000 B.C.E. to about
30,000 B.C.E. Neanderthal man learned
to make effective tools from stone like
axes and spears for hunting furry
animals. Neanderthals learned how to
use the thick, furry hides from these
animals to keep themselves warm and
dry. With this discovery, clothing was
born.

Cro-Magnon man, considered the next stage

in human development, emerged around forty
thousand years ago and made advances in
the clothing of the Neanderthals. The smarter
Cro- Magnon people learned how to make fire
and cook food, and they developed finer,
more efficient tools. Sharp awls, or pointed
tools, were used to punch small holes in
animal skins, which were laced together with
hide string. In this way they probably
developed the earliest coverings for the body,
legs, head, and feet.

This cave painting depicts the slaughter of an animal whose

skin would be used for clothing and whose meat would be used
for food.

It is thought that the first assembled piece of

clothing was the tunic. A tunic is made from
two pieces of rectangular animal hide bound
together on one short side with a hole left for
the head. This rough garment was placed
over the head and the stitched length lay on
the shoulders, with the remainder hanging
down. The arms stuck through the open
sides, and the garment was either closed
with a belt or additional ties were placed at
the sides to hold the garment on the body.
This tunic was the ancestor of the shirt.

One of the most important Cro-Magnon

inventions was the needle. Needles were
made out of slivers of animal bone; they were
sharpened to a point at one end and had an
eye at the other end. With a needle, CroMagnon man could sew carefully cut pieces of
fur into better fitting garments. Evidence
suggests that Cro- Magnon people developed
close-fitting pants and shirts that would
protect them from the cold, as well as shawls,
hoods, and long boots.

Evidence concerning the way early man clothed

and decorated his body has lasted for thousands of
years, but very little has been discovered about how
early humans cared for or styled their hair. It seems
likely that both men and women wore their hair
longer, because they lacked good tools for cutting
hair. Caps of fur were probably worn to keep the
head warm. Also, some of the jewellery that has
been discovered seems to have been intended for
holding back long hair. Men likely wore facial hair,
again because of the lack of tools to remove it. If hair
was cut, it was probably done with the same stone
cutting tools used to chop wood and scrape animal
furs.

As with many other elements from

the life of prehistoric humans, little can
be known about the nature of footwear
at that time. The oldest known shoes are
ten-thousand-year-old sandals found in
a desert area. The types of shoes worn
by prehistoric humans depended upon
the materials available to them.

Shoes were typically made from the hides of

deer or sheep. It appears likely that people
made their shoes shortly after killing the
animal, when the hide was still soft and
supple, making it easier to fit to their feet.
People placed their foot on the hide and cut
out a shape around their foot, then wrapped
the hide up to their ankle and secured it in
place with strips of hide, or thongs.

Thank you