When did humans first start wearing clothing?

Answer 1

Textiles were invented in the Middle East during the late stone age.
Prehistoric development:
Body lice, which live on clothes, diverged from head lice around 72,000 years (give or take 42,000 years), evidence that humans began wearing clothing at around this time.
Possible sewing needles have been dated to around 40,000 years ago.
The earliest evidence of weaving comes from impressions of textiles and basketry and nets on little pieces of hard clay, dating from 27,000 years ago and found in the Czech Republic.
At a slightly later date (25,000 years) the Venus figurines were depicted with clothing. 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 and sometimes string skirts.
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.

Answer 2

By design the human body naturally craves heat and dryness which is why we dwell in shelters. As soon as humans became either wet and/or cold we looked for something to shelter us from the elements.

Answer 3

"Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking, anthropologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, have conducted a genetic analysis of human body lice that indicates that they originated about 107,000 years ago. Since most humans have very sparse body hair, body lice require clothing to survive, so this suggests a surprisingly recent date for the invention of clothing. Its invention may have coincided with the spread of modern Homo sapiens from the warm climate of Africa, thought to have begun between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. However, a second group of researchers used similar genetic methods to estimate that body lice originated about 540,000 years ago (Reed et al. 2004. PLoS Biology 2(11): e340). For now, the date of the origin of clothing remains unresolved."

"Clothing : Origin and history of clothing" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing#Origin_and_history_of_clothing

"Prehistoric development"

"- Body lice, which live on clothes, diverged from head lice around 72,000 years (give or take 42,000 years), evidence that humans began wearing clothing at around this time.
Possible sewing needles have been dated to around 40,000 years ago."

"- The earliest evidence of weaving comes from impressions of textiles and basketry and nets on little pieces of hard clay, dating from 27,000 years ago and found in the Czech Republic."

"- At a slightly later date (25,000 years) the Venus figurines were depicted with clothing. 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 and sometimes string skirts."

"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."

"History of clothing and textiles" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_clothing

Answer 4

Before the cultural revolution, certainly. Some time between 1 million years ago and 100,000 years ago.

Answer 5

Back in the Garden Of Eden, as described in Genesis in the Bible.
When God created Adam & Eve, he told them the only thing they couldn't do was eat from the Tree of The Knowledge Of Good & Evil, which had fruit on it. Up until that point, they knew no sin, and felt no guilt in their nakedness. But, when Satan tempted Eve to not only eat of the forbidden fruit but give it to Adam , who also ate it, they immediately felt guilt & shame when confronted by the conviction of God, so then they were ashamed of their nakedness, and tried to cover their sin by putting on something to cover their nakedness. This act of trying to cover up their sin was man's first act of " Religion ".

Answer 6

climate would be the deciding factor in the matter of clothing!!the optimum climate for human beings would of course be one which would require "no clothing" at all!!these areas would have been the cradles of human beings to begin with !!africa and equatorial asia and central america -like climates!!the changes in the magnetic poles over times would naturally encompass vast changes over the eons in which geographic areas warmer climate would shift! newfoundland is ,underneath the ice a large atoll surroundinding a central cove,presently filled with mountains of ice!!global pole shifts could cause mass-migrations of peoples or mass acclimatizations to a more "clothed" and protected mode of living in reaction to gradual climatological changes as well as natural selection in body weights,heights,coloration in response to survival mechanisms physiologically!!as artificial as clothing is it provides for very real survival abilities in our very fragile bodies to provide viable specimens in very harsh and forbidding territories and regions!!like downtown chicago...br-r-r-r-r-r-rrr!!.....>;>

Answer 7

It's hard to tell when you see how some are dressed. Are they really human?

Answer 8

Right after they saw Rosie O'donnell.

Answer 9

Urok the caveman, right after he caught his nuts on the 3rd bush that day.

Answer 10

Sometimes when I look around, I wonder when they'll start.

(On a serious note, I believe it's when they got cold. Blankets don't work when you're hunting, so...)