# When did humans start wearing clothes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113 "2006-08-17T18:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/1 "2006-08-17T18:21:43Z")
I’m guessing we didn’t suddenly go from naked to three-piece mammoth hide suits, but roughly around when did we start wear clothing? For the sake of specifics, i’m defining clothes as worked material; so just a hide rag wouldn’t count, but something that’s been crafted/worked on. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/2 "2006-08-17T18:31:13Z")
It’s at some point in prehistory, so it’s impossible to say exactly. We do have some evidence that woven and sewn clothing are at least as old as the Paleolithic era. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/3 "2006-08-17T18:49:15Z")
It was in the Garden of Eden, after Adam & Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/4 "2006-08-17T19:39:54Z")
For me, it was about 7:00 this morning. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/5 "2006-08-17T20:18:04Z")
It appears that we started wearing fitted clothes about 70k years ago. This is based on some ingenious DNA detective work based on the evolution of body lice. [Link.](http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20030823/fob7.asp) We’ve also found sewing needles dating back to at least 40k years ago. No doubt we (and our close relatives) wore lose-fitting clothing long before that. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/6 "2006-08-17T20:22:44Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > It appears that we started wearing fitted clothes about 70k years ago. This is based on some ingenious DNA detective work based on the evolution of body lice. [url=http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20030823/fob7.asp]Link.[/ur] We’ve also found sewing needles dating back to at least 40k years ago. No doubt we (and our close relatives) wore lose-fitting clothing long before that. OK, that’s the time, **John**. But if I understand the place correctly, you’re telling us this clothing appeared in the Land of Ur? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/7 "2006-08-17T20:25:15Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > OK, that’s the time, **John**. But if I understand the place correctly, you’re telling us this clothing appeared in the Land of Ur? It would almost certainly have been Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/8 "2006-08-17T21:14:27Z")
Er, um, ur, I don’t remember. It was a long time ago. To quote the 2000-Year-Old Man > [@](#): > > REINER: Sir, how did you dress back in the old days, two thousand years ago? WE see pictures on walls, and the legend has it that the fig leaf was the first wearing apparel. > 200-: No, no. > REINER: The fig leaf wasn’t? > 2000: No, no, no, and _no_! It was _not_ the first apparel. No sir. > REINER: What was? > 2000: The hat. > REINER" You mean man wore a hat on his genitals? > 2000: Not on his _gentles_. He didn’t wear a hat on his gentles! He wore a hat on his head, like you’re supposed to wear a hat! It’s a joke based on your typo, John. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/9 "2006-08-17T22:13:24Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > It’s a joke based on your typo, John. 🙂 Well, I requested a mod to fix that coding right after I saw it, so the source of the joke should disappear soon (I hope). ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/10 "2006-08-18T09:19:55Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Well, I requested a mod to fix that coding right after I saw it, so the source of the joke should disappear soon (I hope). Sorry it took so long. ---
**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-humans-start-wearing-clothes/369113/11 "2006-08-18T14:52:44Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > I’m guessing we didn’t suddenly go from naked to three-piece mammoth hide suits, but roughly around when did we start wear clothing? > > For the sake of specifics, i’m defining clothes as worked material; so just a hide rag wouldn’t count, but something that’s been crafted/worked on. I would imagine that humans first started wearing clothes when the first snow fell. It’s just a working theory, however.