The origins of the clothing we wear today may trace back to an astonishing discovery recently unearthed in Germany, potentially linked not to our Homo sapiens ancestors but to an even older, extinct human species.
According to Sci-News, these are bear leg bones from the Middle Pleistocene cave site (Schöningen, Lower Saxony – Germany), showing unmistakable cut marks indicative of careful skinning, suggesting that as far back as 320,000 years ago, hominin species were known to harvest bear hides and process them for clothing.
Close-up of bear leg bone with unmistakable skinning cut marks – (Photo: Volker Minkus).
The lead author of the study, Dr. Ivo Verheijen from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and the Forschungsmuseum Schöningen (Germany), stated: “The cuts on the bones are often interpreted in archaeology as a sign of meat usage. However, it is difficult to extract meat from limb bones. In this case, we can only assume that such fine and precise cuts resulted from careful skinning.”
The thin cuts found on the specimens indicate a sophisticated butchering process and show similarities in the butchering patterns of bears from other Upper Paleolithic sites in the region, suggesting they were created by the same community using similar technologies.
This evidence implies that more than 300,000 years ago, ancient people in Northern Europe may have survived the winter partly thanks to warm bear skins, much like how we use fur coats today.
The practice of skinning and processing hides at such an ancient age is a shocking revelation, as archaeologists previously believed that clothing was a much more recent invention.
Moreover, it suggests an astonishing social organization, where people may have intentionally hunted bears and systematically processed each part of the animal from the outset. The technique of skinning also requires knowledge and a high level of human evolution. Bear hides had to be carefully removed with appropriate tools after the animal’s death to be made into clothing.
Professor Nicholas Conard, a co-author of the study at the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, remarked that this discovery “opens up new perspectives.”
One intriguing detail that remains unanswered is who created these early animal skin and fur garments.
Homo sapiens – our intelligent species – is believed to have emerged around 300,000 years ago. Therefore, which hominin made these ancient garments remains an intriguing mystery. If it were Homo sapiens, this finding could push back the timeline of our species’ emergence. If it were another hominin species, it is clear they had evolved to a level previously unimaginable by scientists.
The study has just been published in the scientific journal Journal of Human Evolution.