1.
History of clothing and textiles
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The study of the history of clothing and textiles traces the availability and use of textiles and other materials and the development of technology for the making of clothing over human history. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a characteristic and is a feature of most human societies. Clothing and textiles have been important in history and reflect the materials available to a civilization as well as the technologies that had been mastered. The social significance of the product reflects their culture. Textiles can be felt or spun fibers made into yarn and subsequently netted, looped, knit or woven to make fabrics, scholarship of textile history, especially its earlier stages, is part of material culture studies. The development of textile and clothing manufacture in prehistory has been the subject of a number of studies since the late 20th century. These sources have helped to provide a coherent history of these prehistoric developments, evidence suggests that humans may have begun wearing clothing as far back as 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. These estimates predate the first known human exodus from Africa, although other species who may have worn clothes –. Possible sewing needles have been dated to around 40,000 years ago, the earliest definite examples of needles originate from the Solutrean culture, which existed in France from 19,000 BC to 15,000 BC. The earliest dyed flax fibers have found in a prehistoric cave in the Republic of Georgia. At a slightly later date the Venus figurines were depicted with clothing and those from western Europe were adorned with basket hats or caps, belts worn at the waist, and a strap of cloth that wrapped around the body right above the breast. Eastern European figurines wore belts, hung low on the hips, archaeologists have discovered artifacts from the same period that appear to have been used in the textile arts, net gauges, spindle needles and weaving sticks. The first actual textile, as opposed to skins sewn together, was probably felt, surviving examples of Nålebinding, another early textile method, date from 6500 BC. Our knowledge of ancient textiles and clothing has expanded in the recent past thanks to technological developments. In northern Eurasia peat bogs can also preserve textiles very well, from pre-history through the early middle ages, for most of Europe, the Near East and North Africa, two main types of loom dominate textile production. These are the loom and the two-beam loom. The length of the cloth beam determined the width of the cloth woven upon it, the second loom type is the two-beam loom. Early woven clothing was made of full loom widths draped, tied
2.
Fiber
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Fiber or fibre is a natural or synthetic substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials, the strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. Natural fibers develop or occur in the shape, and include those produced by plants, animals. Plant fibers are employed in the manufacture of paper and textile, wood fiber, distinguished from vegetable fiber, is from tree sources. Forms include groundwood, lacebark, thermomechanical pulp, and bleached or unbleached kraft or sulfite pulps, animal fibers consist largely of particular proteins. Instances are silkworm silk, spider silk, sinew, catgut, wool, sea silk and hair such as wool, mohair and angora, fur such as sheepskin, rabbit, mink, fox, beaver. Mineral fibers include the asbestos group, asbestos is the only naturally occurring long mineral fiber. Six minerals have been classified as asbestos including chrysotile of the serpentine class, short, fiber-like minerals include wollastonite and palygorskite. Instances are collagen family of proteins, tendon, muscle proteins like actin, cell proteins like microtubules and many others, spider silk, sinew, man-made or chemical fibers are fibers whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. Man-made fibers consist of regenerated fibers and synthetic fibers, the earliest semi-synthetic fiber is the cellulose regenerated fiber, rayon. Most semi-synthetic fibers are cellulose regenerated fibers, cellulose fibers are a subset of man-made fibers, regenerated from natural cellulose. The cellulose comes from sources, rayon from tree wood fiber, Modal from beech trees, bamboo fiber from bamboo, seacell from seaweed. In the production of fibers, the cellulose is reduced to a fairly pure form as a viscous mass. Therefore, the process leaves few characteristics distinctive of the natural source material in the finished products. Some examples are, rayon bamboo fiber Lyocell, a brand of rayon Modal, historically, cellulose diacetate and -triacetate were classified under the term rayon, but are now considered distinct materials. Synthetic come entirely from materials such as petrochemicals, unlike those man-made fibers derived from such natural substances as cellulose or protein. Metallic fibers can be drawn from ductile metals such as copper, gold or silver and extruded or deposited from more brittle ones, such as nickel, carbon fibers are often based on oxydized and via pyrolysis carbonized polymers like PAN, but the end product is almost pure carbon. Silicon carbide fibers, where the polymers are not hydrocarbons but polymers
3.
Textile
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A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, hemp, Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or felting. The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile, however, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made of interlacing fibres, a fabric is a material made through weaving, knitting, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is often a piece of fabric used for a specific purpose. The word textile is from Latin, from the adjective textilis, meaning woven, from textus, the word cloth derives from the Old English clað, meaning a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one, from Proto-Germanic kalithaz. The discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests textile-like materials were made even in prehistoric times. The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization, however, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for such as bags. In the household they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, towels, coverings for tables, beds, and other flat surfaces, in the workplace they are used in industrial and scientific processes such as filtering. Textiles are used in traditional crafts such as sewing, quilting. Textiles for industrial purposes, and chosen for other than their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met, woven of threads coated with zinc oxide nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of self-powering nanosystems using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body movements. Fashion designers commonly rely on textile designs to set their fashion collections apart from others, armani, the late Gianni Versace, and Emilio Pucci can be easily recognized by their signature print driven designs. Textiles can be made from many materials and these materials come from four main sources, animal, plant, mineral, and synthetic. In the past, all textiles were made from natural fibres, including plant, animal, in the 20th century, these were supplemented by artificial fibres made from petroleum. Textiles are made in various strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest gossamer to the sturdiest canvas, microfibre refers to fibres made of strands thinner than one denier
4.
Clothing
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Clothing is fiber and textile material worn on the body. The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to human beings and is a feature of all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn depends on type, social. Some clothing types can be gender-specific, physically, clothing serves many purposes, it can serve as protection from the elements, and can enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking. It protects the wearer from rough surfaces, rash-causing plants, insect bites, splinters, thorns, Clothes can insulate against cold or hot conditions. Further, they can provide a barrier, keeping infectious. Clothing also provides protection from ultraviolet radiation, there is no easy way to determine when clothing was first developed, but some information has been inferred by studying lice. The body louse specifically lives in clothing, and diverge from head lice about 170 millennia ago, another theory is that modern humans are the only survivors of several species of primates who may have worn clothes and that clothing may have been used as long ago as 650 millennia. Other louse-based estimates put the introduction of clothing at around 42, the most obvious function of clothing is to improve the comfort of the wearer, by protecting the wearer from the elements. In hot climates, clothing provides protection from sunburn or wind damage, shelter usually reduces the functional need for clothing. For example, coats, hats, gloves, and other layers are normally removed when entering a warm home. Similarly, clothing has seasonal and regional aspects, so that thinner materials, Clothing performs a range of social and cultural functions, such as individual, occupational and gender differentiation, and social status. In many societies, norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, Clothing may also function as a form of adornment and an expression of personal taste or style. Clothing can and has in history been made from a wide variety of materials. Materials have ranged from leather and furs, to materials, to elaborate and exotic natural. Not all body coverings are regarded as clothing, Clothing protects against many things that might injure the uncovered human body. Clothes protect people from the elements, including rain, snow, wind, however, clothing that is too sheer, thin, small, tight, etc. offers less protection. Clothes also reduce risk during activities such as work or sport, some clothing protects from specific environmental hazards, such as insects, noxious chemicals, weather, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances
5.
Technology
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Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
6.
Upper Paleolithic
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The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity, modern humans are believed to have emerged about 195,000 years ago in Africa. Although these humans were modern in anatomy, their lifestyle changed very little from their contemporaries, such as Homo erectus, about 50,000 years ago, there was a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts. In Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archeological record, between 45,000 and 43,000 years ago, this new tool technology spread with human migration to Europe. The new technology generated an explosion of modern humans which is believed to have contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals. The Upper Paleolithic has the earliest known evidence of organized settlements, in the form of campsites, artistic work blossomed, with cave painting, petroglyphs, carvings and engravings on bone or ivory. The first evidence of fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. More complex social groupings emerged, supported by more varied and reliable food sources and this probably contributed to increasing group identification or ethnicity. By 50, 000–40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia, by 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61° north latitude in Europe. By 30,000 BP, Japan was reached, and by 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia above the Arctic Circle, at the end of the Upper Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed the Bering land bridge and quickly expanded throughout North and South America. Both Homo erectus and Neanderthals used the same crude stone tools, archaeologist Richard G. Klein, who has worked extensively on ancient stone tools, describes the stone tool kit of archaic hominids as impossible to categorize. It was as if the Neanderthals made stone tools, and were not much concerned about their final forms and he argues that almost everywhere, whether Asia, Africa or Europe, before 50,000 years ago all the stone tools are much alike and unsophisticated. These new stone-tool types have been described as being distinctly differentiated from each other, the invaders, commonly referred to as the Cro-Magnons, left many sophisticated stone tools, carved and engraved pieces on bone, ivory and antler, cave paintings and Venus figurines. The Neanderthals continued to use Mousterian stone tool technology and possibly Chatelperronian technology and these tools disappeared from the archeological record at around the same time the Neanderthals themselves disappeared from the fossil record, about 40,000 years ago. Settlements were often located in valley bottoms, possibly associated with hunting of passing herds of animals. Hunting was important, and caribou/wild reindeer may well be the species of single greatest importance in the anthropological literature on hunting. Technological advances included significant developments in flint tool manufacturing, with industries based on fine blades rather than simpler and shorter flakes, burins and racloirs were used to work bone, antler and hides. Advanced darts and harpoons also appear in period, along with the fish hook, the oil lamp, rope
7.
Sewing needle
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A sewing needle for hand-sewing is a long slender tool with a pointed tip at one end and a hole or eye at the other. The earliest needles were made of bone or wood, modern ones are manufactured from carbon steel wire and are nickel- or 18K gold-plated for corrosion resistance. The highest quality embroidery needles are plated with platinum and one-third titanium alloy. Traditionally, needles have been kept in books or needlecases which have become objects of adornment. Sewing needles may also be kept in an etui, a box that held needles and other items such as scissors, pencils. Hand sewing needles come in a variety of types/ classes designed according to their intended use, sharp Needles, used for general hand sewing, built with a sharp point, a round eye, and are of medium length. Those with a double-eyes are able to carry two strands of thread while minimizing fabric friction, appliqué, These are considered another all-purpose needle for sewing, appliqué, and patch work. Embroidery, Also known as needles, identical to sharps but have a longer eye to enable easier threading of multiple embroidery threads. Milliners, A class of needles generally longer than sharps, useful for basting and pleating, normally used in millinery work. Beading, These needles are very fine, with an eye to enable them to fit through the centre of beads and sequins along with a long shaft to thread. Bodkin, Also called ballpoints, this is a long, thick needle with a ballpoint end and they can be flat or round and are generally used for threading elastic, ribbon or tape through casings and lace openings. Chenille, These are similar to tapestry needles but with large, long eyes, darning, Sometimes called finishing needles, these are designed with a blunt tip and large eye making them similar to tapestry needles but longer, yarn darners are the heaviest sub-variety. Doll, Not designed for hand sewing at all, these needles are made long and thin and are used for soft sculpturing on dolls, particularly facial details. Leather, Also known as glovers and as wedge needles, these have a point designed to pierce leather without tearing it, often used on leather-like materials such as vinyl. Sailmaker, Similar to leather needles, but the triangular point extends further up the shaft, tatting, These are built long with an even thickness for their entire length, including at the eye, to enable thread to be pulled through the double stitches used in tatting. Straight sizes, 3-12 long, curved,1. 5-6 long, needle size is denoted by one or more numbers on the manufacturers packet. The general convention for sizing of needles, like that of wire gauges, is that any given class of needle the length. For example, a size 9 needle will be thicker and longer than a size 12 needle, however, the needle sizes are not standardized and so a size 10 of one class may be either thinner or finer than a size 12 of another type
8.
Venus figurines
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These figurines were carved from soft stone, bone or ivory, or formed of clay and fired. The latter are among the oldest ceramics known, in total, some 144 such figurines are known, virtually all of modest size, between 3 cm and 40 cm or more in height. They are some of the earliest works of prehistoric art, most of them have small heads, wide hips, and legs that taper to a point. In contrast, arms and feet are absent, and the head is usually small. Depictions of hairstyles can be detailed, and especially in Siberian examples, the original cultural meaning and purpose of these artifacts is not known. It has frequently been suggested that they may have served a ritual or symbolic function, the use of the name is metaphorical as there is no link between the figurines and the Roman goddess Venus, although they have been seen as representations of a primordial female goddess. The term has been criticised for being more a reflection of modern western ideas than reflecting the beliefs of the original owners. Vénus impudique, the figurine that gave the class its name, was the very first Paleolithic sculptural representation of a woman discovered in modern times. It was found in about 1864 by Paul Hurault, 8th Marquis de Vibraye at the archaeological site of Laugerie-Basse in the Vézère valley. The Magdalenian Venus from Laugerie-Basse is headless, footless, armless, four years later, Salomon Reinach published an article about a group of steatite figurines from the caves of Balzi Rossi. The famous Venus of Willendorf was excavated in 1908 in a deposit in the Danube valley. Since then, hundreds of similar figurines have been discovered from the Pyrenees to the plains of Siberia. The ivory carving, found in six fragments in Germanys Hohle Fels cave, represents the features of Venus figurines, including the swollen belly, wide-set thighs. The majority of the Venus figurines appear to be depictions of females, many of which follow certain artistic conventions, most of them are roughly lozenge-shaped, with two tapering terminals at top and bottom and the widest point in the middle. In some examples, certain parts of the anatomy are exaggerated, abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs. In contrast, other details are neglected or absent, especially arms. The heads are often of small size and devoid of detail. Some may represent pregnant women, while others show no such signs, the absence of feet has led to suggestions that the figures might have been made to stand upright by inserting the legs into the ground like a peg
9.
Flax
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Flax, Linum usitatissimum, is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is a food and fiber crop cultivated in regions of the world. The textiles made from flax are known in the Western countries as linen, and traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, the oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to referring to the plant itself, the word flax may refer to the fibers of the flax plant. The plant species is only as a cultivated plant, and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species Linum bienne. Several other species in the genus Linum are similar in appearance to L. usitatissimum, cultivated flax, including some that have similar blue flowers, some of these are perennial plants, unlike L. usitatissimum, which is an annual plant. Cultivated flax plants grow to 1.2 m tall, with slender stems, the leaves are glaucous green, slender lanceolate, 20–40 mm long, and 3 mm broad. The flowers are pale blue, 15–25 mm in diameter. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm in diameter, containing several brown seeds shaped like an apple pip. Flax was first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent region, evidence exists of a domesticated oilseed flax with increased seed size by 9,000 years ago from Tell Ramad in Syria. Use of the crop steadily spread, reaching as far as Switzerland, in China and India, domesticated flax was cultivated also by at least 5,000 years ago. Flax was extensively cultivated in ancient Egypt, where the walls had paintings of flowering flax. Egyptian priests only wore linen, as flax was considered a symbol of purity, phoenicians traded Egyptian linen throughout the Mediterranean, and the Romans used it for their sails. Eventually, Flanders became the center of the linen industry in the European Middle Ages. Since then, flax has lost its importance as a commercial crop, Flax is grown for its oil, used as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as a plant in gardens. Flax fibers are used to make linen, the Latin species name usitatissimum means most useful. Flax fibers are taken from the stem of the plant, and are two to three times as strong as those of cotton, additionally, flax fibers are naturally smooth and straight
