a. I can’t even begin this book without an arguement on
clothes. Of course its that age old controversy of
which history of man to believe in; evolution or
genesis. And because I am hoping to interest all people
on Earth I must not forget that Genisis is parochial in
a way. There are other beginnings and we will deal with
them each as they affect our history lesson.
Evolution.
b. I have a problem with evolution right at the start.
Face it, it doesn’t make sense! There we have a
neanderthal man, or whatever name is up to date, just
emerging from the ape, and he fashions clothes for
himself out of skin.
I want you to think about that for a minute. You have
heard of the Yeti or Bigfoot that wanders this earth.
If we ever prove he exists then we are going to have
to reevaluate our own beginnings. For you see he wears
no clothing at all and his cover is his own hairy body.
Which is exactly what I would expect from man if he
decended from an animal. What animal would be stupid
enough to encumber himself with a wardrobe to pack
around or wash or darn? Especially when he has been
doing allwright without clothes! When was the point when
someone said “We are naked! let us clothe ourselves.”
Is there a point in time when you can live one minute
without clothes and the next minute you need them?
There is not one commonsense reason for evolved humans
to wear any clothing.
It is not in the nature of an evolutionary creature to
be bare one day and need clothes the next and be able
to design, invent or create them. What excuses have
been given by evolutionists so far to explain the need
of clothes by these early humanoids? We have three that
I am aware of; 1. protection. 2. shame. 3. adornment.
1.Protection from the cold. I’ll first have to build a
small scenario to set the stage. Lets say we have a
small group of humanoids who have somehow managed to
breakaway from the trees and lost their fur or hair
while doing so. They also have been walking on their
hind legs for a few hundred thousand years. In fact
they have become quite good at it. keep that in mind.
All of a sudden a very cold storm comes along. They
huddle together for warmth as any smart animal would
do. If the cold goes away soon they will survive it. If
not, they will perish. That is a fact of nature. If
they survive they will forget about it until the next
time. Just as any animal would do. Inventing clothing
on the spot when they have no concept of clothing is
hard to concieve of. It’s as big a jump as inventing a
space ship in 95 B.C. to escape the Romans. If the
cold comes slowly, like any animal that is mobile, they
will move to warmer area’s. The concept here is
mobility to escape. Or migrate as the herds do.
Protection from heat. Clothes don’t keep you cool but
they do protect from sunburn. However so does shade.
Trees are everywhere except in the deserts. Any animal
who ventures into the desert by mistake will perish
from lack of water before he perishes from sunburn. And
there is nothing to make clothes from on the desert
even if you do think of something as brilliant as
clothes.
Protection from scratches. Now this I can agree with.
If our ancestors had lost their hair on the behind it
can be rough if they have to sit on stones or rocky
ground. Unfortunatly there is just one problem with
that idea; that is a western world concept. Native
peoples seldom if ever sat on chairs. They squatted on
their haunches. In that position you don’t come near
the ground with your tush. And if you are in dense
jungle the leaves are soft. If you are in a thorny area
you keep away from the thorns. In this case, clothing
would be caught on the thorns. Actually, in a survival
setting clothes are a hindrance not a help.
To end this section I draw attention to the accounts of
Captain Cook about the natives of Tierra - del- fuego
at the tip of South America. A cold and bitter land.
They wore no clothes and felt no cold. They could not
approach within yards of Cooks campfire because of the
heat. They couldn’t even be comfortable standing near
Cook or his men, as they complained they gave off too
much warmth. Unfortunatly they must have gotten too
close anyway as they were almost all dead on the return
visit. Desease from the ships crew wiped out a race
that had survived for who knows how long.
Shame or modesty. This is a very interesting concept.
When we trace the concept of ‘shame’ in regards to the
genitals it appears that every race on the face of the
earth covered them up in some fashion. It is not clear
whether it is from modesty, shame, protection or to
show off or inhance the penis. There is one tribe that
lived in Africa long ago who’s women bared the genitals
when they moved between villages. When meeting a man
they presented themselves for sex. This was their way
of saving their lives and not being kidnapped. But
obviously that is a learned response to a bad
situation. Where and how the entire world learned to
hide just this one part of their body when no animal on
earth ever did is a mystery. Humans have used
everything on earth to hide this part of the body, from
leaves to the horns of animals. They have either
covered it modestly or been brazen about it. I refer to
the horns used by the pygmy’s which was then tied to
their waist by strings.
Adornment or pleasure A humanoid without too much
verbal communication must have been attuned to his
senses. Sense of smell, touch ,taste, sight, and
hearing. He must also,if he herded in groups, been
attuned to his inner senses. Quick to sense any
emotional vibrations given off by his/her group. This
is a requisite to survival of any wild group banded
together. Tension indicates danger. It signals, ‘keep
still till we find out what is up.” Fear means, “Run
like mad anywhere, but move.” Excitement signals,
“Come see!” And in those peacefull moments after a
good feed, or nightfall, comes the closeness. The
tactile examination of others. The sense of touch was
far more acute with them than with us. You need to move
inward to really experiance touch. There have been so
few really good experiments done on touch lately but an
early one that dealt with chimps and monkeys showed the
baby animals tactile sense was important to his well
being. Bottles were attached to dummys of tin, canvas
and fur. The babies very quickly chose the furry
surrogate mama. Our own babies are found to do better
when placed on a furry rug for periods of time. All
this leads to the proposal that fuzzy skins taken from
animals may have been played with by the young,(or the
old) felt, hugged, sat on and just generally kept
around to touch or nuzzle until someone liked the feel
so well they wrapped it around themselves as a very
early security blanket.
However, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that
I believe early man actually wore clothes. We have only
found skulls, bones, and tools at oldavi Gorge and
other sites. Never clothes or skins. We put skins on
them in our early portrayals in the days when the
Church frowned on naked people. Our Documented History
of early man is from the historical age of 12 - 14,000
years ago and from our early encounters of primative
jungle tribes. They wore skins! And we haven’t reached
that section yet!
c. GENISIS OR BIBLICAL
This version of early mans history springs from the
Chaldean or Persian area now known as Iraq/Iran and
embraces the Western Asian continent, Arabia, Egypt,
and upper Africa. I will not include India or China or
Malasia in this section but will try to deal with them
separatly.
For our purposes I will accept the present form of
Genisis where Adam and Eve are to be tossed out of Eden
and God is fashioning clothes of skin for them.
Lordy, Lordy, lordy,what a messed up tale! In the first
section we have man and animals living in peaceful
co-existance in a world full of growing edibles. No
killing for food. Now, just because of an apple (or
whatever) God goes out and kills a poor dumb beast and
then skins it (ugh) and makes Adam and Eve wear it!
Come on dears, who else is around to see them? They’ve
been looking at each other all this time so what’s new?
And God,s obviously been looking at them. And the kids
haven’t arrived yet so what’s the worry? Well, like it
or not they are wearing the first set of clothes. Now I
don’t know how adept you people are about making
yourselves outfits from leather, but I’m what you might
call well aquanted with it. I used to be a furrier at
one time and I’ve also made up leathers and moccasins.
It takes time to tan a skin and work it up. So I don’t
imagine the version the Church gives out of Adam and
Eve is quite kosher. Since there were no animals
mentioned in Eden, God had to go find one or call it
in, kill it, skin it, tan it, stitch it all together
for his naughty pair. At least two days maybe? Not
quite the abrupt expulsion we’ve been led to believe.
From then on I’d say it gets easy. With the daily or
weekly lamb offering you’d pile up a few skins around
the house. Eve must have been kept busy working them
all up into outfits. I have often wondered privatly
though if this wasn’t a very cruel form of punishment
for two very gentle people to have to learn to kill
dear little lambs and skin them and then be forced to
wear the skin! Think about it!!
The story continues until the flood without mentioning
the progress of this form of clothing. And clothing is
what we are interested in. All paintings from the
earliest church days portray the preflood people
wearing cloth garments more on the style of the
Greek/Roman and semetic tribes. We can understand this
as they were seeing the story from their own point of
view. My Bible has no mention of clothing after the
outfits made for Adam and Eve. Which means we will have
to move to another book to discover where they learnt
how to spin and weave cloth, or even if they did.
That book is the “BOOK OF ENOCH’. Mention is made in
chapter 8 that one of the Angels,(the sons of heavin)
called AZAZYEL, among other things, taught the men to
make, “all sorts of dyes,” which implies that they had
cloth to use it on. And of course Enoch himself
recounts how he wore a veil before the LORD, as well as
the Robe the lord wore. In chapter 68 Verse 6-8 the
angel GADREL taught men how to make, ‘the coat of
mail’. This can only be the first armor.
The book of Enoch is interesting in that we learn that
according to this version of mans history he was taught
by others and did not evolve his own civilization,
which includes his clothing. Which in turn leads us on
a merry-go-round of our search for mans first clothing.
We cannot prove that the first man wore clothing in the
evolutionary theory, and the biblical story does not
give us much to go on either for it does not describe
the style of either the skins or the clothes the angels
wore. But what we can do is look at how skins have been
used for clothing by primative man.
d. SKIN CLOTHING.
We must try to be as accurate as possible in our search
for the truth. That means ignoring assumed idea’s of
Artists and paleontologists and movie makers who
portrayed early man and speak only of what we know for
sure.
That takes us to those strange inigma’s of mans past;
the cave drawings and rock drawings and pictures
scraped out of the land. Most of them depict us nude. A
few show animal heads worn on the heads of men. None
show men wearing skins. It does show clad beings.
That brings me to a dilemma. Archeology is a subject I
will be going into later on when I discuss ancient
civilizations, but I will have to deal with it now a
little bit. Archeology is important in our history of
clothes but it has to deal with cities and civilized
man. And we are seeking primative man. In order to do
this we have to ignore the past and archeology and come
forward to a recent age when explorers started to make
contact with natives around the world. You see how
silly that is? They are modern men who have had contact
with civilization some time in thier lives. They
remind me more of the hippy who turned his back on
civilization, or the survivers of a terrible disaster,
War or nature.
Almost every nation and people use or have used skins
as a means of clothing. Those that never wore skins
lived in area’s where animals were very scarce or the
ones they had were deemed unsuitable. It was a personal
opinion only as every animal or reptile skin has been
used by man in our long history. The manner in which it
has been used echo’s the degree of civilizaton
attained.
Early man and very primative men used the skin in a
very basic style, with fur attached and very little or
no preparation such as tanning. The whole skin was used
with head attached and all in some instances. This was
placed around the shoulders or hung from the head with
the animals head used as a crowning ornament. This was
found in Africa mostly.
The Cerne giant in England is very old. He wears no
clothing. The huge figures in the dirt at Nazca wear no
clothing. And when we do see anciant figures carved on
rocks or walls of canyons or on bluffs they look more
like space travelers wearing space suits than they do
of humans.
One of the things I have looked for is a further
development among people in that area of the clothes
these space travelers wore. I found no clothes worn by
later peoples that resembled these outfits. Which would
have been a natural development if they had been
designed and worn by our races. It’s only lately that
our fast pace of living has us wearing so many changes
of clothing. In the past styles stayed around for
centuries.
Using skins and leaves usually followed the method of
using the circle to hang it on. That needs a bit of
explanation. Most clothing designs are based on hanging
the item from a circle on different parts of the body.
example; headbands hold feathers, skins, leaves, heads,
etc.; neckbands hold blouses, dresses, capes, coats,
etc,; bust bands hold sarongs, toga’s, skins, etc.
Waistbands hold skirts, toga’s, sarongs, pants, etc.
And then there are bands (circles) that go around
wrists, legs, ankles, for ornaments or ribbons or
feathers. But all hang from these different shaped
circles around parts of the body.
All clothing styles hang from these circles. In some
primative groups a circle of straw or a binding was put
around the waist and the skin tucked into it front and
back to cover the genitals.
The American indians and the Eskimo’s were well along
in their development when we discovered them and what
we saw was a fairly sophisticated use of skins and
methods of tanning.
Since this is only a rough outline in the type of early
clothes used by man we will only touch lightly on each
subject here and go into it in depth at other points.
FIRST BASIC METHODS
e. Nothing develops on its own or alone. It grows
apace with other inventions. Around the world man has
used many varieties of material to clothe himself. He
has used animal skins, reptile skins, feathers, grass,
leaves, wool, flax, bark, cotton and silk and hair.
Each area would have its own problems of supply,
weather, and tribal development.
Where grasses were used they began as small clumps over
the genetals and held in place by a string around the
waist. Let me say right here that since we really don’t
know the true history of man we really cannot say
whether the weaving of fibers such as cotton or hemp or
wool came before the weaving or plaiting of grasses.
They are identical in design. Straw has been woven so
tight by some american tribes that it will hold water.
As the art of plaiting grass developed so did the art
of clothing grow. The grass skirt and leaf skirt became
a thing of great intricacy. Capes developed and were
made from weaving or plaiting. Hats of straw came into
being along with the increase in skill. These arts
developed on islands were the lack of other materials
for clothing dictated the use of these materials. As
the inhabitants came into contact with other material
they were incorporated into the clothing. Or this form
of clothing was abandoned as regular wear.
Where skins were used they began as whole scraped
skins. As the art of tanning developed the skins became
supple and could be cut and shaped. This meant the
development of the needle and the art of sewing with
sinews or the inner bark of trees or gut. As clothing
developed into more than just the act of cover from the
elements it became a fashion statement. I have a hunch
the first fashion plate was not a woman but a man. And
the statement he was making was one of power.
Where bark was used in the making of tapa cloth the
method of manufacture is to pound the bark into strips
(we will discuss how later)until it is soft and plyable
and can then be made up into a sarong.
Making tapa cloth is very much like making papyrus
paper. It has never been established whether one grew
out of the other.
The wearing of wools is by far the most complicated of
them all for there are many steps taken in the making
of cloth from wool or linen or cotton or silk. These
fabrics are considered those of sophistication and
civilization. All these fabrics use a loom to make
them. The loom would have had to be developed in
conjunction with the concept of weaving itself. Too
advanced to join our early ancestors history of
clothing. It belongs to a later date.
DEVELOPMENT AROUND THE WORLD.
f. Since only the Asian and European world kept a few
wall paintings and sculptures to show their early
styles we can only judge other peoples by the styles
and fabrics they were wearing when we met them. I will
start with Alaska and move down the continent then the
pacific rim.
The Eskimo was a very well clothed figure when we first
came across him. Men and women were dressed basically
alike in skins. They wore white fox, wolf, elk, and
seal skins and used the hide of polar bear. In other
words anything that came to them across the tundra and
frozen wastes or from the sea. They were scrapping the
skins with a fan shaped knife used by the women who’s
job it mainly was, curing in the air and sun and then
chewing the skins to work them to a soft state. They
were stitched together with sinew that was thinned by
pulling through their teeth. The needles were made from
bone. There were usually two sets of clothing; one
summer style and one winter style. Both sexes wore
pants, or I should say leggings, for they were usually
not sewn up the crotch. The fur was worn inside to the
skin for the winter with possibly another pair over
made of sealskin,fur outside. Modesty was achieved with
a long upper garment that came to the knees. This was
made of soft, fine skin for summer with a parka style
garment over it in winter. They wore an ‘apron’ of
leather when the upper garment was taken off. Shoes
were worn at all times made of sealskin inside the foot
and laced around the ankle with a cuff at the top of
fur. Quills and bone were sewn on for adornment.
North American indian dress was as varied as any group
of diverse tribes could be. They ranged from leggings
and shirts, to dresses for the women. Both sexes wore
leggings. The amount of clothing depended on the
climate of course. It was all made from finely tanned
leather from Dear and Elk. Buffalo were used mainly for
the tents, sleeping robes and sometimes moccasins and
cradles. The exception to this was the west coast
Indian, the Haida and Salish tribes and also the Mic
Mac’s who wore bark capes and hats. Very sensible in
the rain forests of the coast. The desert Indians wore
also in the heat only a loin cloth using the circle
around the waist with a strip of leather pulled through
and falling in an apron front and back. Rank was
indicated by the use of feathers. Either worn on the
head or as a cape or around the neck. As far as I can
discover the art of weaving cotton or flax was not
known in North America. The cotton plant was unknown as
was flax and sheep arrived with the settlers. Since
there was no suitable plant to produce a fiber to spin,
weaving as we know it never grew. But they did know the
art of weaving just the same as they made some of the
finest woven baskets and bowls in the world. The weave
was so tight it held water. What is not known is did
they learn this weaving from the settlers. And did
they learn the art of pants and curing skins from the
first settlers?
South America we are just learning did have weaving for
they have found woven fabric in a burial site where the
weave was very fine. 3,000 year old cloth can be seen
in Peru.
The Hawaiian Islands are always depicted as being in
grass skirts, yet in a display of Paintings from
Captain Cooks voyage they are in cloth. White capes and
long dresses, or skirts. What the fabric is or where it
came from I do not know. If that was Cook’s second
voyage it still does not say where they got the fabric.
Feathers were used to create a helmet that closely
resembled the Roman Helmet. This helmet was brought to
the Islands by way of Tahiti. It has never been traced
from there.
Polinisia had the fine grass skirt with a woven band.
All of the islands of the pacific had the ability to
weave grasses by the time we came along. Since man
moved across the Pacific Islands as he increased of
course they took with them skills they learned. As long
ago as the time of Ur in Chaldea trade was established
between the Asian, Indian and Pacific Islands. If not
then certainly the Bible claims that Solomon was
trading with the known world which would have to
include the pacific. And since the mainlands had
weaving of grasses then this is the start of their
knowledge.
MAN MADE MATERIALS
g. The first man made materials came in 1884 by Hilaire
de Chardonnet from cellulose. It was forced through
fine holes and came out as a fine filiment that could
be spun into fabric. It was called Rayon. It was an
established fabric by the 1930’s.
At this time also man was experimenting with polymers
and Caruthers from DuPont invented Nylon, a synthetic
polymer. This was made into Nylons by 1939 and then
into parachutes in WWII.
With the inventions of plastics a whole new field of
fabric was on the market. Imitations of leathers,
hides, plastics of all forms from threads to sheets. I
have seen plastic sheets shredded and woven into wools
to form fabrics that shimmer, the filement from tape
decks woven into cloth to make a dress, and plastic
circles sewn on like tassels to adorn fabric.
Its only limit is mans imagination and inginuity.
ARCHAEOLOGY
h. Again we come up against that old problem of our
true history. You see for us to be on an upward climb
we should be getting better at what ever we do. Right?
Well that doesn,t make sense when we find cotten cloth
in a grave site dated around the beginning of A.D. 100
I have found another anomaly.What most people don’t
realize about thier pants that they wear so casually is
the fact that it is quite an engineering feat. You are
constructing a series of tubes that must work in
opposition to each other. The torso is one tube going
with the length of the body, but the crotch is another
form of tube in total opposition to it. This in turn
must attach to the tubes that form the legs which in
turn move. And all three tubes in connection must be
capable of that strangest of all movements=the squat or
the sit, in which all three tubes are working against
each other. It is one thing to wear leggings, which is
what the Norse men and the Eskimo wore. They were not
joined at the crotch. As a consequence in order that
their genitals did not show or be exposed they wore an
apron in front and back. This was the form of ‘pants’
that the American Indian was wearing.
Imagine my surprise then to see a skin tight form of
true pants on the Anciant statues of India. Not only
was the pant cut properly but had an added strange
feature about them. The left leg was always depicted as
short. Ending at the knee. While the right leg was long
to the ankle. Not only that but the art of knitting was
not developed when these statues were built and yet
these pants were form fitting. Meaning that they moved
with the body and stretched to conform to the changes
in the body as it moved. That deffinatly implies a knit
fabric which is stretchy.