Foxes, hares or rabbits, and felines such as lynxes, pumas. The needles of early Americans were made from animal bones with skins. Garments were created from the skins that served as shelter. These findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE. The research is by archaeologist Spencer Pelton and his colleagues at the University of Wyoming.
“We identified the species with which Paleoindians produced bone needles with eyes,” the researchers wrote in a statement. «The production of custom clothing used bone needles and animal skins with hair. These garments partly enabled modern human dispersal to northern latitudes. And, over time, the colonization of the Americas.
Global dispersion
The LaPrele site in Converse County preserves the remains of a dead or scavenged subadult mammoth. There is an associated camp occupied almost 13,000 years ago. A bead made from a hare bone was also discovered. It is the oldest known account in the Americas. The researchers examined 32 bone needle fragments collected at the site. They are known to have existed during the early Paleondian period. It is a prehistoric era in North America between 13,500 and 12,000 years ago.
Bones from red foxes, wild cats, pumas, lynxes, hares or rabbits were used to make needles. It is the first analysis of this type to be carried out. The importance of bone needles in explaining the global dispersion of modern humans is vital. But the materials used to produce them were not defined. This limits understanding of this important cultural innovation.
Facing the cold
To cope with low temperatures, tailored garments were created with closely spaced seams. They provided a barrier against the elements. There is little direct evidence of such clothing. But there is indirect evidence in the form of bone needles and the bones of fur-bearing animals whose skins were used in garments.
The needles of early Americans played a role in the development of the social fabric. “Dressed, modern humans had the ability to expand their range. “They went to places previously excluded because of the threat of hypothermia or death from exposure,” Pelton and his colleagues wrote. How did the people on LaPrele’s site get the fur-bearing animals? Pelton and his colleagues say it probably went through trapping, and not necessarily searching for food.
