Researchers discover world’s oldest sewn hide, dated to Ice Age, in Oregon caves

Through carbon dating, researchers have ruled that the artifacts are between approximately 11,700 and 12,900 years old, a time when Ice Age temperatures had returned after a brief warm period.

Researchers have identified what is believed to be the world’s oldest sewn animal hide, along with Ice Age eyed bone needles, discovered in Oregon, according to researchers from a consortium of North American universities.

The study, published in Science Advances, analyzed 55 artifacts discovered in the Cougar Mountain Cave (CMC) and Paisley Caves in central Oregon, and Smith Creek Cave and Bonneville Estates Rockshelter in Nevada, though the significant findings were discovered in the former two.

Through carbon dating, researchers have ruled that the artifacts are between approximately 11,700 and 12,900 years old, a time when Ice Age temperatures had returned after a brief warm period.

CMC was originally dug up in 1958 by an amateur archaeologist named John Cowles. The artifacts analyzed in the study are part of Cowles’ original collection of excavated findings, now housed at the Favell Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Paisley Caves, or Paisley Five Mile Point Caves, were first studied by archaeologist Luther Cressman in the 1930s, and were added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

According to researchers, the most remarkable find was a piece of elk hide with thread sewn through its edge. The thread, which researchers determined was made from plant fiber and animal hair twisted together, connected the main hide piece to a smaller fragment, which is tied in a knot.

The hide was dated three times to confirm an age of roughly 12,000 years, according to the study, and chemical analysis confirmed it came from a North American elk.

Researchers also studied 14 bone needles from four different sites and determined that they had been carved from the bones of both bison and mountain sheep.

“In all of North America, there are only 17 sites with bone needles in Pleistocene-aged [Ice Age] contexts, while in South America, there are none,” according to the study.

Some 80% of dated Ice Age plant, animal materials found in the Americas

The two caves contain 80% of all the dated plant and animal materials from the Ice Age period found anywhere in North or South America, the study explained, noting that 23 fiber artifacts, 12 wooden tools, and three pieces of hide had been found in CMC alone.

The fiber artifacts are mostly three-strand braided rope made from sagebrush bark, and fragments of tightly woven basketry were also found, marking the oldest evidence of baskets in the Western Hemisphere.

The caves also contained 79 stone spear points, many resharpened multiple times, alongside bison, elk, and rabbit bones.

“The abundance of bone needles and the presence ofadornment items and very fine eyed needles suggest that clothingwas more than a utilitarian survival strategy but also an avenue of expression and identity,” the study concluded.

“This evidence pushes beyond conventional assumptions to confirm that Pleistocene peoples in the Americas used clothing as both survival technology andsocial practice.”