Ancient textiles and clothing
The first actual textile, as opposed to skins sewn together, was probably felt. Surviving examples of Nålebinding, another early textile method, date from 6500 BC. Our knowledge of ancient textiles and clothing has expanded in the recent past thanks to modern technological developments.Our knowledge of cultures varies greatly with the climatic conditions to which archaeological deposits are exposed; the Middle East and the arid fringes of China have provided many very early samples in good condition, but the early development of textiles in the Indian subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa and other moist parts of the world remains unclear. In northern Eurasia peat bogs can also preserve textiles very well.
Early woven clothing was often made of full loom widths draped, tied, or pinned in place.
Ancient Near East
The earliest known woven textiles of the Near East may be fabrics used to wrap the dead, excavated at a Neolithic site at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, carbonized in a fire and radiocarbon dated to c. 6000 BC. Evidence exists of flax cultivation from c. 8000 BC in the Near East, but the breeding of sheep with a wooly fleece rather than hair occurs much later, c. 3000 BC.
Ancient India
The inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization used cotton for clothing as early as the 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC.
Ancient Egypt
Queen
Nefertari in a sheer, pleated linen garment, Egypt, c. 1298–1235 BC
Evidence exists for production of linen cloth in Ancient Egypt in the Neolithic period, c. 5500 BC. Cultivation of domesticated wild
flax, probably an import from the Levant, is documented as early as c. 6000 BC Other bast fibers including
rush,
reed, palm, and
papyrus were used alone or with linen to make rope and other textiles. Evidence for wool production in Egypt is scanty at this period.
Spinning techniques included the drop spindle, hand-to-hand spinning, and rolling on the thigh; yarn was also spliced. A horizontal ground loom was used prior to the New Kingdom, when a vertical two-beam loom was introduced, probably from Asia.
Linen bandages were used in the burial custom of mummification, and
art depicts Egyptian men wearing linen kilts and women in narrow dresses with various forms of shirts and jackets, often of sheer pleated fabric.
Ancient China
The earliest evidence of silk production in China was found at the sites of Yangshao culture in Xia, Shanxi, where a
cocoon of bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, cut in half by a sharp knife is dated to between 5000 and 3000 BC. Fragments of primitive looms are also seen from the sites of Hemudu culture in Yuyao, Zhejiang, dated to about 4000 BC. Scraps of silk were found in a Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Zhejiang, dating back to 2700 BC. Other fragments have been recovered from royal tombs in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC).
[18]
Under the Shang Dynasty, Han Chinese clothing or Hanfu consisted of a a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic tied with a sash, and a narrow, ankle-length skirt, called shang, worn with a bixi, a length of fabric that reached the knees. Clothing of the elite was made of silk in vivid primary colours.
Ancient Thailand
The earliest evidence of spinning in Thailand can be found at the archaeological site of Tha Kae located in Central Thailand. Tha Kae was inhabited during the end of the first millennium BC to the late first millennium AD. Here, archaeologists discovered 90 fragments of spindle whorl dated from 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. And the shape of these finds indicate the connections with south China and India.
[19] A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object that fits onto the spindle to increase as well as maintain the speed of spinning.
Ancient Japan
The earliest evidence of weaving in Japan is associated with the
Jōmon period. This culture is defined by pottery decorated with cord patterns. In a shell mound in the Miyagi Prefecture, dating back about 5,500, some cloth fragments were discovered made from bark fibers.
[20] Hemp fibers were also discovered in the Torihama shell midden, Fukui Prefecture, dating back to the Jōmon period, suggesting that these plants could also have been used for clothing. Some pottery pattern imprints depict also fine mat designs, proving their weaving techniques. The patterns on the Jōmon pottery show people wearing short upper garments, close-fitting trousers, funnel-sleeves, and rope-like belts. The depictions also show clothing with patterns that are embroidered or painted arched designs, though it is not apparent whether this indicates what the clothes look like or whether that simply happens to be the style of representation used. It is interesting to note that the pottery also shows no distinction between male and female garments. This may have been true because during that time period clothing was more for decoration than social distinction, but it might also just be because of the representation on the pottery rather than how people actually dressed at the time. Since bone needles were also found, it is assumed that they wore dresses that were sewn together.
[21]
Next was the Yayoi period, during which rice cultivation was developed. This led to a shift from hunter-gatherer communities to agrarian societies which had a large impact on clothing. According to Chinese literature from that time period, clothing more appropriate to agriculture began to be worn. For example, unsewn fabric wrapper around the body and poncho-type garments with head-holes cut into them. This same literature also indicates that pink or scarlet makeup was worn but also that mannerisms between people of all ages and genders were not very different. However, this is debatable as there were probably cultural prejudices in the Chinese document. There is a common Japanese belief that the Yayoi time period was quite utopian before Chinese influence began to promote the use of clothing to indicate age and gender.
From 300 to 550 AD was the Yamato period, and here much of the clothing style can be derived from the artifacts of the time. The tomb statues (haniwa) especially tell us that the clothing style changed from the ones according to the Chinese accounts from the previous age. The statues are usually wearing a two piece outfit that has an upper piece with a front opening and close-cut sleeves with loose trousers for men and a pleated skirt for women. Silk farming had been introduced by the Chinese by this time period but due to silk’s cost it would only be used by people of certain classes or ranks.
The following periods were the Asuka (550 to 646 AD) and Nara (646 to 794 AD) when Japan developed a more unified government and began to use Chinese laws and social rankings. These new laws required people to wear different styles and colors to indicate social status. Clothing became longer and wider in general and sewing methods were more advanced.
[22]
Classical Period- Philippines[edit]
The classical Filipino clothing varied according to cost and current fashions and so indicated social standing. The basic garments were the Bahag and the tube skirt—what the Maranao call malong—or a light blanket wrapped around instead. But more prestigious clothes, lihin-lihin, were added for public appearances and especially on formal occasions—
blouses and
tunics, loose smocks with s
leeves, capes, or ankle-length robes. The textiles of which they were made were similarly varied. In ascending order of value, they were
abaca, abaca decorated with colored
cotton thread,
cotton, cotton decorated with silk thread, silk, imported printstuff, and an elegant abaca woven of selected fibers almost as thin as
silk. In addition, Pigafetta mentioned both G-strings and skirts of
bark cloth.
Untailored clothes, however had no particular names.
Pandong, a lady's
cloak, simply meant any natural covering, like the growth on banana trunk’s or a natal caul. In Panay, the word
kurong, meaning curly hair, was applied to any short skirt or blouse; and some better ones made of imported chintz or calico were simply called by the name of the cloth itself, tabas. So, too, the wraparound skirt the Tagalogs called tapis was hardly considered a skirt at all: Visayans just called it habul (woven stuff) or halong (abaca) or even hulun (sash).
The usual male headdress was the pudong, a turban, though in Panay both men and women also wore a head cloth or bandana called
saplung. Commoners wore pudong of rough abaca cloth wrapped around only a few turns so that it was more of a headband than a turban and was therefore called
pudong-pudong—as the
crowns and
diadems on Christian images were later called. A red
pudong was called magalong, and was the insignia of braves who had killed an enemy. The most prestigious kind of
pudong, limited to the most valiant, was, like their G-strings, made of pinayusan, a gauze-thin abaca of fibers selected for their whiteness, tie-dyed a deep scarlet in patterns as
Ancient textiles and clothing
The first actual textile, as opposed to skins sewn together, was probably
felt. Surviving examples of
Nålebinding, another early textile method, date from 6500 BC. Our knowledge of ancient textiles and clothing has expanded in the recent past thanks to modern technological developments.
[12] Our knowledge of cultures varies greatly with the climatic conditions to which archeological deposits are exposed; the Middle East and the arid fringes of China have provided many very early samples in good condition, but the early development of textiles in the
Indian subcontinent,
sub-Saharan Africa and other moist parts of the world remains unclear. In northern
Eurasia peat bogs can also preserve textiles very well.
Early woven clothing was often made of full
loom widths draped, tied, or pinned in place.
Ancient Near East
The earliest known woven textiles of the
Near East may be fabrics used to wrap the dead, excavated at a
Neolithic site a t
Çatalhöyük in
Anatolia, carbonized in a fire and
radiocarbon dated to c. 6000 BC.
[13] Evidence exists of
flax cultivation from c. 8000 BC in the Near East, but the breeding of sheep with a wooly
fleece rather than hair occurs much later, c. 3000 BC.
[13]
Ancient India[edit]
The inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization used cotton for clothing as early as the 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC.
[14]
Ancient Egypt
Queen
Nefertari in a sheer, pleated linen garment, Egypt, c. 1298–1235 BC
Evidence exists for production of linen cloth in
Ancient Egypt in the Neolithic period, c. 5500 BC. Cultivation of domesticated wild
flax, probably an import from the
Levant, is documented as early as c. 6000 BC Other
bast fibers including
rush,
reed,
palm, and
papyrus were used alone or with linen to make rope and other textiles. Evidence for wool production in Egypt is scanty at this period.
[15]
Spinning techniques included the drop spindle, hand-to-hand spinning, and rolling on the thigh; yarn was also spliced.
[15] A horizontal ground loom was used prior to the New Kingdom, when a vertical two-beam loom was introduced, probably from Asia.
Linen bandages were used in the
burial custom of
mummification, and
art depicts Egyptian men wearing linen
kilts and women in narrow dresses with various forms of shirts and jackets, often of sheer pleated fabric.
[15]
Ancient China
Under the Shang Dynasty,
Han Chinese clothing or
Hanfu consisted of a
yi, a narrow-cuffed, knee-length tunic tied with a sash, and a narrow, ankle-length skirt, called
shang, worn with a
bixi, a length of fabric that reached the knees. Clothing of the elite was made of silk in vivid primary colours.
Ancient Thailand
The earliest evidence of spinning in Thailand can be found at the archaeological site of Tha Kae located in Central Thailand. Tha Kae was inhabited during the end of the first millennium BC to the late first millennium AD. Here, archaeologists discovered 90 fragments of spindle whorl dated from 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD. And the shape of these finds indicate the connections with south China and India.
[19] A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object that fits onto the spindle to increase as well as maintain the speed of spinning.
Ancient Japan
The earliest evidence of weaving in Japan is associated with the
Jōmon period. This culture is defined by pottery decorated with cord patterns. In a shell mound in the Miyagi Prefecture, dating back about 5,500, some cloth fragments were discovered made from bark fibers.
[20] Hemp fibers were also discovered in the Torihama shell midden, Fukui Prefecture, dating back to the Jōmon period, suggesting that these plants could also have been used for clothing. Some pottery pattern imprints depict also fine mat designs, proving their weaving techniques. The patterns on the Jōmon pottery show people wearing short upper garments, close-fitting trousers, funnel-sleeves, and rope-like belts. The depictions also show clothing with patterns that are embroidered or painted arched designs, though it is not apparent whether this indicates what the clothes look like or whether that simply happens to be the style of representation used. It is interesting to note that the pottery also shows no distinction between male and female garments. This may have been true because during that time period clothing was more for decoration than social distinction, but it might also just be because of the representation on the pottery rather than how people actually dressed at the time. Since bone needles were also found, it is assumed that they wore dresses that were sewn together.
[21]
Next was the Yayoi period, during which rice cultivation was developed. This led to a shift from hunter-gatherer communities to agrarian societies which had a large impact on clothing. According to Chinese literature from that time period, clothing more appropriate to agriculture began to be worn. For example, unsewn fabric wrapper around the body and poncho-type garments with head-holes cut into them. This same literature also indicates that pink or scarlet makeup was worn but also that mannerisms between people of all ages and genders were not very different. However, this is debatable as there were probably cultural prejudices in the Chinese document. There is a common Japanese belief that the Yayoi time period was quite utopian before Chinese influence began to promote the use of clothing to indicate age and gender.
From 300 to 550 AD was the Yamato period, and here much of the clothing style can be derived from the artifacts of the time. The tomb statues (haniwa) especially tell us that the clothing style changed from the ones according to the Chinese accounts from the previous age. The statues are usually wearing a two piece outfit that has an upper piece with a front opening and close-cut sleeves with loose trousers for men and a pleated skirt for women. Silk farming had been introduced by the Chinese by this time period but due to silk’s cost it would only be used by people of certain classes or ranks.
The following periods were the Asuka (550 to 646 AD) and Nara (646 to 794 AD) when Japan developed a more unified government and began to use Chinese laws and social rankings. These new laws required people to wear different styles and colors to indicate social status. Clothing became longer and wider in general and sewing methods were more advanced.
[22]
Classical Period- Philippines
The classical Filipino clothing varied according to cost and current fashions and so indicated social standing. The basic garments were the Bahag and the tube skirt—what the Maranao call malong—or a light blanket wrapped around instead. But more prestigious clothes, lihin-lihin, were added for public appearances and especially on formal occasions—
blouses and
tunics, loose smocks with s
leeves, capes, or ankle-length robes. The textiles of which they were made were similarly varied. In ascending order of value, they were
abaca, abaca decorated with colored
cotton thread,
cotton, cotton decorated with silk thread, silk, imported printstuff, and an elegant abaca woven of selected fibers almost as thin as
silk. In addition, Pigafetta mentioned both G-strings and skirts of
bark cloth.
Untailored clothes, however had no particular names.
Pandong, a lady's
cloak, simply meant any natural covering, like the growth on banana trunk’s or a natal caul. In
Panay, the word
kurong, meaning curly hair, was applied to any short skirt or blouse; and some better ones made of imported chintz or calico were simply called by the name of the cloth itself, tabas. So, too, the wraparound skirt the Tagalogs called tapis was hardly considered a skirt at all: Visayans just called it habul (woven stuff) or halong (
abaca) or even hulun (
sash).
The usual male headdress was the pudong, a turban, though in Panay both men and women also wore a head cloth or bandana called
saplung. Commoners wore pudong of rough abaca cloth wrapped around only a few turns so that it was more of a headband than a turban and was therefore called
pudong-pudong—as the
crowns and
diadems on Christian images were later called. A red
pudong was called magalong, and was the insignia of braves who had killed an enemy. The most prestigious kind of
pudong, limited to the most valiant, was, like their G-strings, made of pinayusan, a gauze-thin abaca of fibers selected for their whiteness, tie-dyed a deep scarlet in patterns as fine as embroidery, and burnished to a silky sheen. Such pudong were lengthened with each additional feat of valor: real heroes therefore let one end hang loose with affected carelessness. Women generally wore a kerchief, called tubatub if it was pulled tight over the whole head; but they also had a broad-brimmed hat called sayap or tarindak, woven of sago-palm leaves. Some were evidently signs of rank: when Humabon’s queen went to hear mass during Magellan’s visit, she was preceded by three girls carrying one of her
hats. A
headdress from Cebu with a deep crown, used by both sexes for travel on foot or by boat, was called
sarok, which actually meant to go for water.
[23]
The textile trade in the ancient world
The exchange of luxury textiles was predominant on the
Silk Road, a series of ancient trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West by linking traders, merchants,
pilgrims,
monks, soldiers,
nomads and urban dwellers from China to the
Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. The trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the
Han Dynasty,
[24] although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. Geographically, the Silk Road or Silk Route is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes between
Chang'an (today's
Xi'an) in China, with
Asia Minor and the Mediterranean extending over 8,000 km (5,000 mi) on land and sea. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great
civilizations of China, Egypt,
Mesopotamia,
Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and
Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.
Classical antiquity
Greek chiton (left) and chiton worn under himation
Dress in
classical antiquity favored wide, unsewn lengths of fabric, pinned and draped to the body in various ways.
Ancient Greek clothing consisted of lengths of wool or linen, generally rectangular and secured at the shoulders with ornamented pins called fibulae and belted with a sash. Typical garments were the peplos, a loose robe worn by women; the chlamys, a cloak worn by men; and the chiton, a tunic worn by both men and women. Men’s chitons hung to the knees, whereas women’s chitons fell to their ankles. A long cloak called a himation was worn over the peplos or chlamys.
The
toga of ancient Rome was also an unsewn length of wool cloth, worn by male citizens draped around the body in various fashions, over a simple
tunic. Early tunics were two simple rectangles joined at the shoulders and sides; later tunics had sewn
sleeves. Women wore the draped
stolaor an ankle-length tunic, with a
shawl-like
palla as an outer garment. Wool was the preferred fabric, although linen,
hemp, and small amounts of expensive imported silk and cotton were also worn.
Iron age Europe
The Iron Age is broadly identified as stretching from the end of the Bronze Age around 1200 BC to 500 AD and the beginning of the Medieval period. Bodies and clothing have been found from this period, preserved by the anaerobic and acidic conditions of peat bogs in northwestern Europe. A Danish recreation of clothing found with such bodies indicates woven wool dresses, tunics and skirts.[25] These were largely unshaped and held in place with leather belts and metal brooches or pins. Garments were not always plain, but incorporated decoration with contrasting colours, particularly at the ends and edges of the garment. Men wore breeches, possibly with lower legs wrapped for protection, although Boucher states that long trousers have also been found.[26] Warmth came from woollen shawls and capes of animal skin, probably worn with the fur facing inwards for added comfort. Caps were worn, also made from skins, and there was an emphasis on hair arrangements, from braids to elaborate Suebian knots.] Soft laced shoes made from leather protected the foot.fine as embroidery, and burnished to a silky sheen. Such pudong were lengthened with each additional feat of valor: real heroes therefore let one end hang loose with affected carelessness. Women generally wore a kerchief, called tubatub if it was pulled tight over the whole head; but they also had a broad-brimmed hat called sayap or tarindak, woven of sago-palm leaves. Some were evidently signs of rank: when Humabon’s queen went to hear mass during Magellan’s visit, she was preceded by three girls carrying one of her
hats. A
headdress from Cebu with a deep crown, used by both sexes for travel on foot or by boat, was called
sarok, which actually meant to go for water.
[23]
The textile trade in the ancient world
The exchange of luxury textiles was predominant on the
Silk Road, a series of ancient trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers,
nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. The trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the Han Dynasty,although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. Geographically, the Silk Road or Silk Route is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes between Chang'an in China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean extending over 8,000 km (5,000 mi) on land and sea. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and
Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.
Classical antiquity
Greek chiton (left) and chiton worn under himation
Dress in classical antiquity favored wide, unsewn lengths of fabric, pinned and draped to the body in various ways.
Ancient Greek clothing consisted of lengths of wool or linen, generally rectangular and secured at the shoulders with ornamented pins called fibulae and belted with a sash. Typical garments were the peplos, a loose robe worn by women; the chlamys, a cloak worn by men; and the chiton, a tunic worn by both men and women. Men’s chitons hung to the knees, whereas women’s chitons fell to their ankles. A long cloak called was worn over the peplos or chlamys.
The
toga of ancient Rome was also an unsewn length of wool cloth, worn by male citizens draped around the body in various fashions, over a simple tunic. Early tunics were two simple rectangles joined at the shoulders and sides; later tunics had sewn sleeves. Women wore the draped stola an ankle-length tunic, with a shawl-like palla as an outer garment. Wool was the preferred fabric, although linen, hemp, and small amounts of expensive imported silk and cotton were also worn.
Iron age Europe
The Iron Age is broadly identified as stretching from the end of the Bronze Age around 1200 BC to 500 AD and the beginning of the Medieval period. Bodies and clothing have been found from this period, preserved by the anaerobic and acidic conditions of peat bogs in northwestern Europe. A Danish recreation of clothing found with such bodies indicates woven wool dresses, tunics and skirts.These were largely unshaped and held in place with leather belts and metal brooches or pins. Garments were not always plain, but incorporated decoration with contrasting colours, particularly at the ends and edges of the garment. Men wore breeches, possibly with lower legs wrapped for protection, although Boucher states that long trousers have also been found.
[26] Warmth came from woollen shawls and capes of animal skin, probably worn with the fur facing inwards for added comfort. Caps were worn, also made from skins, and there was an emphasis on hair arrangements, from braids to elaborate Suebian knots.
[27] Soft laced shoes made from leather protected the foot.
