# When Did Humans Start Wearing Clothes? Discovery in a Moroccan Cave Sheds Some Light ###### Outline ## Highlights ### q1 human hands polish bone tools > Unlike the bones discarded after consuming an animal for food, bones used regularly by human hands gain a sheen and polish. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgxvc69fxwfc2n8z5kdyz61z) ### q2 clothing predates homo sapiens > researchers say 62 bone tools used to process and smooth animal skins found in a cave in Morocco may be some of the earliest proxy evidence for clothing in the archaeological record. The tools are between 90,000 and 120,000 years old. > > It's challenging to figure out when the use of clothing began. It's highly likely early humans like Neanderthals that lived in cold climates long before Homo sapiens arrived on the scene had clothing to protect themselves from the extreme weather, but there's not much hard evidence. > > [Genetic studies of lice](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002236/#bib5) indicate that clothing lice diverged from their human head louse ancestors at least 83,000 years ago and possibly as early as 170,000 years ago, which suggests humans were wearing clothes before major migrations out of Africa. > > Hallett said that one of 98 400,000-year-old tools made from elephant bone and recently discovered in Italy may have been used to smooth leather. They were likely [used by Neanderthals.](https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/08/30/researchers-identify-record-number-ancient-elephant-bone-tools) Eyed needles emerge in the archaeological record much later, about 40,000 years ago. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fgxvd47ce3b54qc0yaajt3f4)