When did humans start wearing clothes?

Clothes not only protect people but also have spiritual value, but experts are not clear about the exact time when clothes appeared.

Tarkhan Dress, a garment made in ancient Egypt over 5,000 years ago. Photo: Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology — Tarkhan Dress, a garment made in ancient Egypt over 5,000 years ago. Photo: *Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology*

It is difficult to know exactly when modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) began wearing clothes due to the lack of archaeological evidence for a definitive answer. The oldest direct evidence that experts have is the Tarkhan Dress, a V-neck linen shirt discovered by Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in a tomb from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt at the Tarkhan necropolis. Radiocarbon dating has revealed that the shirt was made around 3482 - 3102 BC.

It is possible that humans were wearing clothes before then, but archaeologists have yet to find any garments older than the Tarkhan Dress. This is not surprising, since unlike today, where many clothes are made from synthetic fibers that are not biodegradable, ancient clothing was made from plant and animal materials that are easily decomposed, such as wool or linen. It is possible that the Tarkhan Dress survived because it was in an extremely dry environment, preventing deterioration.

The Tarkhan Dress is the oldest nearly intact piece of clothing ever discovered, but it is not the earliest evidence of textiles. For example, archaeologists have found fragments of plant-based textiles at the ancient settlement of Catalhoyuk, Türkiye, dating back about 8,500 years. This suggests that people may have been making and wearing clothes at that time.

Another, much older example was found in Dzudzuana Cave, Georgia, Türkiye, and it was flax fibers. Some of the fibers were twisted and dyed with natural dyes. Researchers believe this could be evidence of clothing. Remarkably, the fibers were around 30,000 years old, a significant leap forward in the history of clothing.

Scientists also use more specific methods to trace clothing back even further: lice. There are two types of lice that live on humans: head lice and body lice. The latter also live in clothing, so scientists think that figuring out when they first appeared could provide indirect evidence of when humans began wearing clothes.

Researchers have compared the DNA of head and body lice to determine when the latter emerged. A recent estimate suggests that body lice likely split from head lice between 83,000 and 170,000 years ago. However, this is a rough estimate. Body lice would have needed time to adapt, so clothing may have been invented a little earlier.

That’s just the evidence for when modern humans wore clothes. In addition, experts have discovered traces that suggest Neanderthals may have also worn fur coats. However, the longer the time passes, the harder it is to find direct evidence. So perhaps people will never know exactly when clothes were invented.

Thu Thao (According to IFL Science )

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