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szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
Humans wore fur 300,000 years ago
    2023-01-10  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Archaeologists in Germany have uncovered some of the earliest evidence of the use of clothing, with newly discovered cut marks on a cave bear paw suggesting the prehistoric animals were skinned for their fur some 300,000 years ago.

The discovery in Schöningen, northern Germany, is exciting because — despite the depictions of cave men and women draped in furs in popular culture — very little is truly known about how early humans clothed their bodies and survived harsh winters.

Fur, leather and other organic materials typically don’t preserve beyond 100,000 years, meaning that direct evidence of prehistoric clothing is scant.

“The study is significant because we know relatively little about how humans in the deep past were protecting themselves from the elements. From this early time period, there is only a handful of sites that show evidence of bear skinning, with Schöningen providing the most complete picture,” said study author Ivo Verheijen, a doctoral student at Tübingen University.

Cave bears were large animals that went extinct about 25,000 years ago. The cave bear’s coat, which has long outer hairs that form an airy protective layer and short, dense hairs that provide good insulation, was suitable for making simple clothing or bedding, according to the study published in the Journal of Human Evolution on Dec. 23.

The clothing probably consisted of skins that were wrapped around the body without elaborate tailoring. The eyed needles needed to sew more intricate designs didn’t emerge in the archaeological record until about 45,000 years ago.

“We found the cutmarks on elements of the hands/feet where very little meat or fat is present on the bones, which argues against the cutmarks originating from the butchering of the animal,” Verheijen explained. “On the contrary, in these locations, the skin is much closer to the bones, which makes marking the bone inevitable when skinning an animal.”

The Schöningen site is most famous for the discovery of the oldest known wooden weapons — nine throwing spears, a thrusting lance and two throwing sticks — that were used to kill prey 300,000 years ago.

“We discovered numerous remains of other animals with cutmarks in Schöningen such as horses and aurochs, with cutmarks related to skinning. Nonetheless, the highly insulating properties of bear skins, together with the fact that the hides are more flexible when treated properly, makes bear skins much more suitable for clothing than other large herbivores,” Verheijen said.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【灭绝】mièjué

extinct

having no living members, no longer in existence

【绝缘】juéyuán

insulation

covering something to stop heat, sound, or electricity from escaping or entering

德国考古学家发现了人类最早使用衣服的证据,洞穴熊爪上的切割痕迹表明,这种史前动物在大约30万年前被剥皮用作衣服。

德国北部舍宁根的发现令人兴奋,因为尽管流行文化中充斥着披着毛皮的男女洞穴人形象,但人们对早期人类如何穿衣蔽体度过严酷的冬天知之甚少。

毛皮,皮革和其他有机材料通常保存不超过10万年,这意味着很难发现史前服装的直接证据。

“这项研究意义重大,因为我们对人类在遥远的过去如何保护自己免受自然侵害知之甚少。从那时开始,只有少数几个地点找到了熊皮的证据,舍宁根提供了最完整的图景,”研究作者,图宾根大学的博士生伊沃•韦尔海耶恩说。

洞穴熊是一种大型动物,约25000年前灭绝。根据12月23日发表在《人类进化杂志》上的研究,洞穴熊的皮毛具有的长外层毛能形成通风的保护层,短而密集的底层毛可提供良好的绝缘性,适合制作简单的衣服或铺盖。那时的衣服可能没有精心剪裁,只是简单裹在身上。缝制更复杂服装所需的缝衣针直到大约45000年前才出现在考古记录中。

“我们在熊掌碎片上发现了切割痕迹,这些部位几乎没有肉或脂肪,说明切割并非为了吃肉,” 韦尔海耶恩解释说。

“相反,在这些地方,皮肤更接近骨骼,这使得在剥皮时不可避免地在骨头上留下刻痕。”

德国舍宁根遗址最著名的发现是已知最古老的木制武器——九根投掷矛、一根长刺矛和两根投掷棍——这些武器在 30 万年前用来杀死猎物。

“我们在舍宁根发现了许多其他带有切割痕迹的动物遗骸,例如马和野牛,这些痕迹也与剥皮有关。熊皮具有高度绝缘特性,处理得当时更柔软,因而比其他大型食草动物更适合做衣服,” 韦尔海耶恩说。(SD-Agencies)

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