A new study by Arizona State University (ASU) published this week in iScience has examined more than 60 tools made of bone and teeth of whales, dolphins and porpoises, to find highly likely evidence for the earliest clothing known to archaeologists, dating as far back as 120,000 years ago.
These discoveries, first unearthed from the Contrebandiers Cave in Morocco in 2011, are indications of the invention of clothes, and the development of the tools needed to make them.
ASU archaeologists noted in their study that the development of clothing, the origin of which is still vastly misunderstood, was crucial in enabling early humans to expand their niche from Pleistocene Africa into new surroundings with new challenges.
Among nearly 12,000 bone fragments, researchers found more than 60 animal bones that had been shaped by humans to be used as tools. They also uncovered a pattern of cut marks on the carnivore bones suggesting that, rather than processing them for meat, the early humans were skinning them to create fur.
“This was a critical time period and location for the early members of our species,” said ASU doctoral graduate Emily Hallett, a co-leader of the study.