Early Neolithic Warfare (Anatolia)
I had these illustrations commissioned for my neolithic website.
The warrior is ready to defend her proto-city from nasty raiders!
She wears paints blessed by the gods and carries a stone ax!
Victory will be hers!
Early Neolithic Cooking (Linear Pottery Culture)
I had these illustrations commissioned for my neolithic website.
She has the tools to store and grind bread, as well as cook it.
I should have featured a small oven. =/
I still have a few more item/clothing pictures to post 
Here are some miscellaneous household objects. I included a leather skirt with shell decorations. Neolithic clothing may have been a bit sparse, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t well made or decorated.
Also, a toy for the kids! A little bone doll.
While a loincloth or string skirt is comfy, sometimes nothing beats a leather wrap. Both men and women could wear them (cultures may have had specific rules, of course). I made a quick one using deer leather and little white beads (instead of bone beads, which are too large to use at 1:6 scale).
Deer leather, beads and thread. I had to use cotton fiber thread as my hand-spun flax cord is too thick for 1:6 scale.
Obsidian tools cut through deer leather like a hot knife through butter. Also, clean edges! I’ve used this tool for the last 10 years 
The bone beads are glass in this case. I have real bone beads, but they are too large for 1:6 scale. I have a real bone awl for punching holes, but I use a needle due to the tiny holes I must make.
The doll wears the skirt without issue. She wraps the cloth around her waist, then binds it with a leather thong (long cord of leather, not the undergarment of the same name). She folds the top over the belt completing the skirt.
Note: The doll is holding unspun flax! \o/
It’s comfy protects the upper legs during stone working or walking through the brush. Should could also wear leggings if it were cold.
Smelly and toxic as understand from watching Dirty Cities, Britain
While we are on the subject of clothing, let’s not forget…
Masks were worn by many different cultures throughout history. Discoveries of masks from the Neolithic suggest this practice wasn’t confined to modern times.
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49373
This LBK culture woman (Germany, C. 5500BCE) wears a wooden painted fox mask. Masks may have been worn for rituals and perhaps other tasks, though we cannot be sure.
This is the same woman with a bunch of her possessions before her. In her hands, she holds her precious wooden fox mask.
NOTE: The original photo is accurate to the period. The photo is summer, so no top. I censored it for the forum. The original is here: Original Artwork
What’s smelly an toxic?
The tanning process?
My bad the tanning process. And that was in the 1800 era. I know tanning hides using sunlight is not a problem I believe.
Yep, there are many techniques. 1800’s tanning was epic rank, as I have heard lol
The doll (if she were real) might have used tannins from water + leaves and bark, held without a wooden dugout-boat-looking trough.
As well as Bone, bark, and fur armor. The fur armor can also double as camouflage. It was not unusual for native Americans to use the common plants and animal furs as concealment as well as a way to frighten the enemy in combat. A good example would be. “The Thirteenth Warrior” with Antonio Banderas. The natives wore bear armor and used bear claws as weapons.
I am working on making more full size Neolithic reproduction outfits. I will post more pictures and how they are made in the hopes the Developers might find them useful.
This week I sat down and made a Loincloth, probably the first (covering) garment ever made by our species. Sometimes, the loincloth is divided into: Loincloth (attaches in back and hangs over the front, not back) and Breechcloth (hands over front and back, often longer) and Apron (hangs down front but does not cover underneath).
I am going to be making leggings and a shirt too, but this all starts with a loincloth (breechcloth). I started with deer leather (suede). I couldn’t afford a long enough piece for a single piece, so I had to connect two pieces. A breechcloth is typicaly about 90% the length the wearer is tall.
The loincloth is the primary garment of most Neolithic people. Most other clothing would likely be removed in the heat or when inside a warm home (leggings/etc are uncomfortable in huts… trust me lol). In the screenshots for the game, you see the men wearing them almost exclusively, while the women wear apron loincloths. More complex clothing has probably not been created by the developers, yet, though I suspect it will. \o/
A loincloth may be simple, but it may also be highly decorated. I may sew shells onto this garment or add paint. Our ancestors loved adding little bits of personality to their garments.
[4 sqare feet of suede]
[A piece of obsidian easily cuts the deer leather into two long pieces with minimal effort]
[A good obsidian piece is quicker than a knife or scissors and faster]
[A mere 10 minutes later, I have two long pieces (about 0.8 meters, long, each)]
[I broke my bone awl, so I used a metal awl instead. Awls punch holes in leather. I will make a new one, later]
[Using flax cord, I quickly lace the pieces together into a single panel]
[Flax is easy to spin and very strong. I sewed both sides making the panels very strong]
[Underneath, it looks quite nice. This breechcloth is ready for use!]
[The mannequin wears it well. She is protected from bushes, brambles, and her modesty is ensured. The breechcloth is actually more covering than many other garments! Also, it’s quite comfy to wear (unless it’s hot/humid or gets wet)]
[The backside is well covered, too. This ensures sitting isn’t uncomfortable]
Next, I need to make leggings and sandals/boots/shoes. After that, a leather top.
Is it too long? Very cool work you do.
That really depends on the wearer. I’ve learned most of these garments in the woods for extended time to get a feel for how they felt when used so I could better to pick them in my books. Reading and academic paper is useful, but you don’t get a real feel for the clothing and its practicality without trying it. A long loincloth or breechcloth feels more comfortable than a short one as the inner component can be loosened without the risk of the excess front or back pulling through the waist cord. You don’t notice this unless you begin working with making fires or kneeling. Also, the length helps keep you warmer in the cold as it traps more warm air.
In this case, I was also re-creating the loincloth worn by a character in my book. She wears hers quite long.
Pics! Pics! Pics! To weave wool or linen. Personal photos from the MAN.
The loom’s ploughshares
1) Loom weights? 2)Clay bobbin. 3) Loom weight. 4) Neddles
I can attest personally to that looms accuracy. I’ve set there weaving linen on a similar Loom, though mine was vertical, the same way. It hurts your fingers and it’s mind-numbing work. The best thing to do is set a few of those looms together with people you can chat with.
Just to stress the importance of that for the socializing aspect of the game: the “main square”, taking water in the well or the river, shared activities in general (hunting, fishing, building, playing together, for both children & adults) definitively needs to be taken into account – though I suspect the devs already did…
Even the quickest glance at modern tribal societies will quickly show that communal work is VERY common.
Activities like spinning and weaving take hours each day, and caring for the children while chatting will help this pass.
It takes me hours to spin a few meters of good thread and long to make cloth.
Ordering leather tonight to make Neolithic leggings.
I’ll be sure to post photos and info on their construction in a few days.
After that, maybe a top of some sort.
I would love it if anyone else has any really good links/images of actual Neolithic clothing found. As you know, most clothing is destroyed over time, but some (such as Otzi the Iceman) have survived. Illustrations and photos would be best, I suspect.
I think this would help Ancient Cities when they start working on clothing. Please post away \o/
Clothing is Super Important and so often ignored. They didn’t wear burlap sacks or those silly cloth tunics you always see depicted. =/
