Science confirms – 3. Collection of scientific articles

Science confirms – 3. Collection of scientific articles
Andrey Tikhomirov

The mention of clothing in ancient sources is confirmed by modern archaeological data that ancient people used clothes already 90—120 thousand years ago.

Science confirms – 3

Collection of scientific articles

Editor Andrey Tikhomirov

ISBN 978-5-0059-5296-7 (т. 3)

ISBN 978-5-0059-4957-8

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Scientists have found out when a person started using clothes

In a cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, archaeologists have discovered more than 60 bone tools that ancient people used to produce clothing made of leather and fur. The age of the finds is 90—120 thousand years. This is the oldest evidence to date of the manufacture of clothing by representatives of Homo sapiens. The results of the study are published in the journal iScience.

The beginning of the use of clothing is an important milestone in the history of mankind. Its appearance not only marks the rise of man to the next step in cultural and cognitive evolution, this innovation has given people the opportunity to settle outside Africa, in colder and more unfavorable regions from the point of view of climate.

Archaeologists and anthropologists agree that Homo sapiens began using clothing in the late Pliocene, but they could not say more precisely until now: leather, furs and other organic materials used for manufacturing are poorly preserved in the archaeological record. Therefore, scientists are constantly trying to find indirect evidence of the appearance of clothing production technologies among ancient people – specialized tools for making skins.

Researchers studying the site of an ancient man in the Contrebandier cave in Morocco have found here about 12 thousand fragments of animal bones, at least 60 of which have been identified by scientists as tools for skinning and skinning. The found bone tools have a certain correct shape, they are polished and smoothed, which indicates long-term use.

Next to the bone tools, the bones of small fur – bearing animals – sand foxes, golden jackals and wild cats – were found with traces indicating that the animals were butchered to skin them. The bones of other animal species found in the cave, belonging to cattle, have marks of a different type, indicating that they were processed for meat.

«The combination of predator bones with traces of skinning and bone tools, which were probably also used for fur processing, provides very convincing indirect evidence of the production of the earliest clothing in the archaeological record,» the words of the first author of the article Emily Hallett from the German Max Planck Institute for the History of Mankind are quoted in the press release of the publishing house. «But given the level of specialization, these tools are probably part of an earlier tradition, examples of which have not yet been found.»

Experts compared the tools from the Contrebandier cave with descriptions of skin treatment tools from other studies and found that they have the same shape and the same markings. The age of the oldest of the finds is 120 thousand years. This is the earliest evidence to date of the emergence of a culture of clothing production and specialized tools for its manufacture.

In general, according to the researchers, the findings from the Contrabandier cave emphasize the emergence of a complex culture in the late Pleistocene in Africa, including the use of a wide variety of materials for the manufacture of specialized tools.

«Bone tools from the Contrebandier cave demonstrate that approximately 120 thousand years ago Homo sapiens began to actively use bones to make specialized tools for solving specific tasks, including processing leather and fur. This feature, apparently, is the basic one for our species, and did not appear after the expansion into Eurasia,» Hallett summarizes.

Learn more: https://ria.ru/20210916/odezhda-1750382673.html

Scientific comments are given in parentheses.

The Bible (Genesis): mention of clothing

Chapter 2:25 And both Adam and his wife were naked, and they were not ashamed. (Shame in the development of human self-identification appears later. Loincloths – from the point of view of religious figures, the loss of innocence led to a sense of shame, and people began to cover the genitals with loincloths (girdles), Christians covered the genitals in sculptures and paintings with fig leaves (hence to show figs – to ridicule Christian mock modesty). Man is the only animal that deliberately covers his body with foreign materials for reasons that we call «modesty», using the «belt of modesty». Other animals can cover themselves with dirt in order to cool the body, or they can use an unoccupied shell as a shelter, but, as far as we can judge, only people have modesty. A. Asimov believed that at first some kind of coverings were needed in order to protect the most sensitive places – for example, the genitals – from contact with the external environment. (When a person stood on his hind legs, the genitals were more open than before.). As people migrated to cooler areas, clothes became heavier and tighter around the body: a person needed artificial heat. The motive of modesty (or, in some cases, shamelessness: after all, sometimes garments were used to emphasize erotic places) appeared, apparently, as a side effect of this utilitarian need for clothing. On the other hand, there are still primitive cultures for which nudity is not considered shameful; there are also developed peoples with similar views – for example, the Japanese; finally, one can recall nudist (from the Latin nudo – to expose, to do naked, to discover, to be discovered) colonies and beaches. The loincloth was used by people to prevent feces from falling or urine from spilling during hunting and in general, since an enemy or a predatory animal could track down the traces of human excrement. By blood (using spears with notches that cause an abundance of blood), traces, droppings, ancient people and current hunters, as well as animals by smell, track down prey. Loincloths were also used to support the genitals, as corsets and bras were later used to support women’s breasts.)

Chapter 3:21 And the Lord God made leather garments for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Once again proves that the Lord God is a man, or rather tailors who skin animals and use animal skins for clothing. that is, cattle breeding is developing.)

Chapter 9:20 Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard; (Noah’s occupation with agriculture and, in particular, viticulture).

21 And he drank the wine, and became drunk, and lay naked in his tent. (Description of Noah’s drunkenness, clothes by that time were not only the subject of hiding from the cold, but also became the subject of modesty).

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and went out and told his two brothers. (Here it is proved that by that time clothes had become a subject of modesty, it became necessary to hide their nakedness with the help of clothes).

23 Now Shem and Japheth took a garment and put it on their shoulders, went backwards and covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned back, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. (Once again it is proved that it was impossible for children to see their parents’ nakedness).

24 Noah overslept from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him (Noah’s actions towards his youngest son, but in ancient times the rule of the minor was applied to younger sons, that is, all property was given to him).

25 And he said, Cursed is Canaan; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers. (However, it is not Ham who is cursed, but his son, that is, Noah’s grandson Canaan! Canaan is the ancestor of the Canaanites and the writers of the Bible, who covered these events in later times, had to justify the enslavement of Canaan by the Israelites).

26 Then he said: Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; Canaan will be his servant; (Shem had his own God, most likely the god of the tribe of Shem, then there was polytheism, Canaan was proclaimed a slave to Shem. Here again the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan is justified).

Chapter 20:16 And Sarah said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, this is a veil for your eyes before all who are with you, and before all you are justified. (A veil to hide the eyes. Headscarves for women – all peoples at different times have a closure of the face, body. For example, the burqa is from the Arab. farajiya – upper loose clothing, veil – from Sanskrit. pata is a fabric, a light female head covering, now a wedding headdress. The face in ancient times was considered the abode of the soul, where the most important features of a woman were, so they were hidden even more carefully than the rest of the body. Nowadays, a resident of Saudi Arabia, having lived with her husband for 30 years, filed for divorce after a curious spouse looked at her face for the first time, removing the veil, thus he violated the law of his wife’s hometown, which prohibits showing her face even to her spouse).

Chapter 24:53 And the servant took out silver things, and gold things, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; and he also gave rich gifts to her brother and her mother. (Endowment).

Chapter 27:15 And Rebekah took the rich clothes of her eldest son Esau, which she had in her house, and clothed her youngest son Jacob; (Camouflage). 16 and she covered his hands and his smooth neck with the skin of the goats; (Camouflage). 27 He came up and kissed him. And [Isaac] smelled the smell of his clothes and blessed him and said, «Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed; (Deception). 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fat of the earth, and plenty of bread and wine; (A blessing by deceit!).

Chapter 28:20 And Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to put on, (A vow is a contract with a priest).

Chapter 35:2 And Jacob said to his house and to all who were with him, Cast away the strange gods that are with you, and be cleansed, and change your clothes; (There must be one god who will «guide»).

Chapter 37:3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and made him a colorful garment. (Joseph is the youngest son, that is, he fits under the right of a minor. Multicolored clothes meant wealth, a kind of being chosen for ancient times, something like the fashion of that time. Expulsion of children – in the animal world, it is often possible to observe the expulsion of their older cubs by females with newborns, this is done by them in order to save the life of a newborn cub and feed it, also a female feeding a newborn does not seek to mate, she does not produce menstruation, this is also observed in humans (often eaten or buried by animals placenta, so that predators do not come to the smell and eat the cubs, according to the ancient African custom of some peoples, including the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, their placenta was buried together with the deceased in a canopic jar). In ancient Russia, group marriage was a form of family life in which a woman and a man from the same family formed a monogamous family for a while. They lived as husband and wife for exactly as long as it took to have children and raise them up to about the age of three. From that moment on, the mother paid less attention to the child, since he was considered old enough to do a variety of work. A woman could have already given birth to a second child, so she either extended the relationship with her former spouse, or moved on to another man. The elder must arrange his own life. Such a phenomenon exists in humans – in Russian fairy tales, older brothers are always treacherous, and the younger one is «good», in Germany, the custom was preserved for a long time when older children left home and arranged their own lives. This is the right of the minor, the ancient system of inheritance of property by the youngest in the family, was replaced by the right of the major – the right of inheritance by the eldest of the heirs, was aimed at preserving and consolidating large landed property). 23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they took off Joseph’s clothes, the multicolored clothes that he was wearing (the clothes were apparently expensive).

24 And they took him and threw him into the pit; but the pit was empty; there was no water in it. (Revenge of the brothers).

25 And they sat down to eat bread, and looked, and saw, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, and their camels were carrying styrax, balm, and frankincense: they were going to take it to Egypt. (A trading caravan. In religious manipulations, aromatic effects are widely used – the establishment of influence with the help of odors and smoking (myrrh, myrrh, frankincense, etc.). It has been scientifically proven that frankincense contains incensol acetate and is a remedy for depression and acts as an antidepressant. Balms – from the Greek – aromatic resin, natural substances, which include essential oils and resins dissolved in them, aromatic and other compounds. Styrax (in Greek, in Hebrew – nataf – a tree or shrub, the brown-red resin of this tree was used in medicine and cosmetics, the ancient Israelites used this resin when smoking in tents).

26 Judah said to his brothers, «What good is it if we kill our brother and hide his blood?» (Judas is against the murder of his brother).

27 Let us go and sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let not our hands be on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. His brothers obeyed him (It is better to sell Joseph).

28 And when the merchants of Midian were passing by, they pulled Joseph out of the ditch and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt. (Joseph was sold to Egypt. A piece of silver is a Jewish coin).

29 But Reuben came again to the ditch; and behold, Joseph was not in the ditch. And he tore his clothes, (Tearing clothes is an ancient custom of inflicting certain injuries to himself).

30 And he returned to his brothers, and said, There is no lad, but I, where am I going? (Reuben empathizes with Joseph).

31 And they took Joseph’s clothes, and slaughtered the goat, and stained the clothes with blood. (Staging).

32 And they sent a garment of many colors, and brought it to their father, and said, We have found it; see if this is your son’s garment or not. (Father’s deception).

33 He recognized her and said, «This is my son’s garment; a beast of prey has eaten him; surely Joseph has been torn to pieces.» (Jacob believed the deception).

34 And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. (Sackcloth or sackcloth – sackcloth, clothing made of coarse fabric).

35 And all his sons and all his daughters gathered together to comfort him; but he would not be comforted, and said, With sorrow I will go down to my son in hell. So his father mourned him. (Mourning originates in antiquity. Mourning – according to the rule of talion, grief, mourning clothes, veil, female crying (mourners) – all these are ways to cause pity for the mourner, ways to cause sadness, grief, remorse. A person in grief beats his chest, tears his hair, refuses to eat, thereby trying to punish himself and avoid the upcoming eternal punishment or weaken the punishment he is waiting for for the death of a loved one).

Chapter 38:14 And she took off the garment of her widowhood, and covered herself with a veil, and shut herself up, and sat at the gate of Enaim, which is on the road to Tamnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she was not given to him as a wife. (Special clothes existed in ancient times for mourning, different countries have different mourning colors in Europe – black, in China – white).

15 When Judas saw her, he took her for a harlot, because she had covered her face. (The woman’s closed face, apparently, meant the opening of the lower part of the body to those who wished).