A (very) Little History of the Sewing Needle The very earliest evidence for clothing fabrication comes from an unlikely source: lice. Between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago, head and body lice became separate species. “This is an indication that individuals started wearing skins,” says Sarah Wurz, an anthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, “The lice lived in these, and therefore evolved into a separate species.” These skins would have been stitched together through holes made by sharp bone awls - the precursor to the needle with an eye.
The development of the needle in what is now Siberia and China around 45,000 years ago would definitely have allowed for the development of more complex clothing. Animal skins, garments, fabrics or other coverings worn by early man and sewn with a bone needle would have allowed for ‘clothes’ to be layered and made to fit. As people acquired skills in working metal materials, needles were also made from metal (Bronze Age approximately 7000 BC), first from copper, later from iron or bronze. Although there is no positive evidence as to the precise design of these needles, excellent pieces of embroidery from the pre-Christian era suggest that they were probably fashioned almost to perfection. Unfortunately, the articles made with these needles were only partially preserved and there are barely any traces of the needles themselves. This is largely explained by the effect of oxidation, which destroys metallic needles after a short time. Even needles made during the 19th century are now rarely found intact.
Our modern sewing needle is the direct descendent of the flint or bone needle (awls) used by humans thousands of years ago. The first needles would have most probably have been made by using a flint tool. Splinters of bone would have been cut out and trimmed roughly into a pointed shape. The crude needle was would have been polished smooth with sand, water and a soft stone rubber. Finally, the needle’s eye would have been created with rudimentary stone ‘drill’.
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