shells from
Upper Palaeolithic Europe, dated between 39,000 and 25,000 BCE. The practice of body adornment is associated with the emergence of behavioral modernity. A 2010 study published in
Molecular Biology and Evolution indicates that the habitual wearing of clothing began at some point in time between 83,000 and 170,000 years ago based upon a
genetic analysis indicating when clothing
lice diverged from their head louse ancestors. That information suggests that the use of clothing likely originated with anatomically-modern humans in
Africa prior to their migration to colder climates, which made the migration possible. Some of the technology for what is now called clothing may have originated to make other types of adornment, including
jewelry,
body paint,
tattoos, and other
body modifications, "dressing" the naked body without concealing it. According to
Mark Leary and
Nicole R. Buttermore, body adornment is one of the changes that occurred in the late
Paleolithic (40,000 to 60,000 years ago) in which humans became not only anatomically modern but also
behaviorally modern, and capable of
self-reflection and
symbolic interaction. More recent studies place the use of adornment at 77,000 years ago in
South Africa, and 90,000—100,000 years ago in
Palestine and
Algeria. While modesty may be a factor, often overlooked purposes for body coverings are camouflage used by hunters, body armor, and costumes used to impersonate "spirit-beings". The origin of complex, fitted clothing required the invention of fine stone knives for cutting skins into pieces, and the
eyed needle for sewing. This was done by
Cro-Magnons, who migrated to Europe around 35,000 years ago. The
Neanderthal occupied the same region, but became extinct in part because they could not make fitted garments, but draped themselves with crudely cut skins—based upon their simple stone tools—which did not provide the warmth needed to survive as the climate grew colder in the
Last Glacial Period. In addition to being less functional, the simple wrappings would not have been habitually worn by Neanderthal because they were more tolerant to the cold than
Homo sapiens and would not have acquired the secondary functions of decoration and promoting modesty. The earliest
archeological evidence of fabric clothing is inferred from representations in figurines in the southern
Levant, dated between 11,700 and 10,500 years ago. The surviving examples of woven cloth are
linen from
Egypt dated 5000
BCE, while knotted or twisted flax fibers have been found as early as 7000 BCE. Adults are rarely completely naked in modern societies and cover at least their genitals, but adornments and clothing often emphasize, enhance, or otherwise call attention to the sexuality of the body. == References ==