Prehistoric Clothing

Neanderthal were the first known humans to make clothes, although there is no clear evidence for the very first clothing.It is assumed that at some point, Neanderthals learned how to use the thick hides animals they hunted, to keep themselves warm and dry.

Cro-Magnon man made advances in the clothing of the Neanderthals, by using sharp awls or pointed tools, they were able to punch small holes in animal skins and then simply lace them with sinew and other natural cordage. It is likely that a tunic was first 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 tunic was either closed with a belt or similar.

The oldest bone and ivory sowing needles with eyelets (from 30,000 - 40,000BC) were found at a group of more than 20 sites along the Don River near the villages of Kostenki and Borshevo, 250 miles south of Moscow.

Shoes: The leather sole was made from brown bear hide that had been cured in a mixture of bear brains and fat from its liver

Deer leather formed the upper guard that helped prevent rain/snow entering the shoe and unlike the sole, the uppers were worn with the fur on the outside

The upper shoe was mounted on a mesh of braided linden bark

The sole bindings were made of calf leather

Straw and moss was used for insulation/lining

tzis are the second oldest known shoes - the oldest being a 5,500-ye

Hide Coat: The coat was made of long, numerous rectangular strips of goat skin that were joined by over-sewing on the inside, with animal sinews used as thread. The oblong, square cut pieces were arranged so that the robe was a pattern of vertical, alternating light and dark stripes. At shoulder height, the strips were sewn in a horizontal direction.

The coatt is approximately 95cm long, extending from the shoulders to the knees. On the front of the garment was almost certainly open because of the cloak in the open state has a width of 138cm, which means that the two irregularly cut fronts overlap. There is no evidence that the coat was closed and held together with any fixings. In all likelihood a simple belt or cord would be used to tie the coat at the waist.