Emily Chan
Previously, humans tended to cover their bodies with red ocher, tattoos, and deliberate scarring as an expression of their identities and social groups. Clothing would have rendered these body modifications invisible.
Eyed needles allowed humans to communicate through fashion instead of body art. They were able to do the fine sewing that was required to adorn clothing. Their appearance represents the shift from clothing as a practical necessity to a social and cultural expression of identity.
Eyed needles were not just used for decorative purposes. They also could have been used to create more fitted garments and layers like underwear.
“These two different purposes actually coincide, since the thermal need for underwear corresponds to a more complete and continuous use of clothing, which in turn, would favor a shift from decorating the skin surface to adorning the more visible surface of clothes,” wrote the researchers.
Because of the regular wearing of clothes, larger societies were able to form. People could move to colder environments while still conveying their association with their communities based on the style and symbols of their clothing.
Even today, the practice of wearing clothes for fashion persists.
