The flax from Lithuania is almost here. I expect to start working on a full size Neolithic shirt in a week or so. Until then, I have been working on a linen loincloth to help get my weaving skills up.
This cloth is actually quite rough and hardly comfortable.
It takes me about 10 minutes to pick 2 lines (law two horizontal rows of weft).
I’ll post updates as it goes along.
As you know, illustrations of Neolithic scenes always show people wearing woven cloth (because it had been invented by that point.) My guess is that this is mostly used to cover women in the scene due to contemporary modesty, as we have no real idea how much cloth was used (their art doesn’t really depict it and little has survived). Most prehistoric fabric is rough, heavy, and VERY hot in the summer. It does benefit in the winter and is more resistant to water than leather. Otherwise, I suspect leather was the staple material for common garments until the bronze age, when weaves/looms became more capable.
Behold, the early Neolithic flax loincloth. It weights more than a pair of jeans and it is VERY uncomfortable to wear. If you were aged, washed and beaten with a rock, it would be a little softer. Using a simple rough spun two ply flax twine would also help, but I would grow old and dying trying to weave it (it takes longer to weave thinner twine).
The model is able to enter the water and work without worrying about the garment being damaged. It keeps her quite secure and would be useful like this in the summer.
I switched from weighted warm to looped warp, due to the length of the garment. The continuous warp is not likely due to the length of the string needed, but the difference between weighted and continuous looping warp is very little, practically. The first few picks of weft are the most difficult, but it soon becomes a solid fabric.
I ended up picking about 2 rows every 5 minutes. This is pretty fast and much quicker than my earlier speed of perhaps 2 rows per 30 minutes. Most of this comes from repetition and development of good habits. A villager would likely watch their parent, learning. In the early teens, they would probably start weaving and by their early 20’s, they would be a pro! (I suspect)
This is the nearly finished product. The continuous loop also makes tying down the ends much easier, due to the lack of knotting required. Thinner cord would negate this need.
I added the shirt and leggings to the model to simulate a spring or fall outfit. I didn’t do this to the first photo so you could see how the cloth sat on the model. Fully outfitted, she is ready for cooler temperatures! I need to make her some shoes, but first I will weave her a real linen shirt.
So, note to dev’s… cloth clothing should be, perhaps, worn for special events, the winter or for leaders. During the warm months, it should be avoided.
Starting on the shirt this weekend. I’ll produce updates, of course.
Can’t wait until the dev’s start making clothing! \o/
I had to rework my warp due to messing up the pattern.
@Uncasual and Dev’s, et al. Here are some suggestions based on my experimental research:
I picked my first four rows (I wove 4 horizontal lines of weft) last night. This first few rows are the hardest due to the warp being tough to keep in order.
I decided to make the model a waist cord jewelry item from clay. I suspect such small, simple decorative items were common enough. They are easy to make and add aesthetics. As you can see, it is made from clay using a shell to imprint shapes (like the Cardium Culture)
Each bead is hand made using clay and a little stick.
As you can see, it looks nice on the model (around her waist). There really should be more emphasis placed on purely decorative things. Looking at all of humanity, we see body decorations in every society, every time period.
Here is a closer look.
It also goes around the back.
We must jot forget the goddess pendants and figurines!!!
They are so numerous in the Neolithic.
And so I made a goddess pendant and beads.
After making the clay forms, I burned wood and then ground the ash in a dish using a rock. The dish is a Linear Pottery Culture.
The clay is light grey, but a coat of the fine ash turns it quite black.
The final baked item is beautifully colored with a matte finish. I based it on many such figurines from Europe. Not the emphasis on the hips and not the breasts.
I hand made each bead using my previously described technique (last post). Each is also colored with ash.
It looks great on my model! \o/ Now she could be a shaman or leader?
Update:
Here we have two full outfits.
Right: Woven linen “shawl,” flax string skirt, clay jewelry, feathers in the hair.
Left: Crude linen shirt (place holder shirt until I finish weaving the real shirt), deer leather leggings, deer leather loincloth, claw jewelry. Feathers in hair.
Here they are with their body paints displayed.
To Do:
As a quick update, I have completed 14.5 in of linen. That’s 1/3 of the entire linen shirt. When I’m finished, the devs will be able to see an actual linen shirt as they really looked, not as what is portrayed so often in Neolithic illustrations. Prehistoric linen is significantly more course and bulkier then what you get in the modern world. I believe I will be experimental proving this.
To put a finer point on this, observe this linen shirt made 4000 years ago, approximately 3500 years more advanced then what I am making. Three and a half millennia more advanced then what I’m making and look how course it still looks, they obviously significantly softer the Neolithic Lennon. It baffles me why it was directions and Bri Productions these days are always soft modern linen.
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/tunic-pleated-linen
If the website linen shirt doesn’t show correctly, here is a direct link:
http://www.louvre.fr/en/mediaimages/robe-plissee
(It “felt” right lol)
It looks like making natural wool felt is pretty easy, and definitely something which occurred in the Neolithic.
I will try and make some felt clothing and document the entire process, as I typically do.
I wanted to point out this really Nifty kids book, that has just been released, which features all three periods of the Stone Age, including the Neolithic. The reason is because of the high quality reproductions displayed on each page. I know the man featured in the book, who made most of the reproductions.
The book was made by actual archaeologists who study these things and is quite inclusive of women. Women comprise about half of the book and as you can see, they’re even depicted using bows for hunting. \o/
I included this photo under “fair use” given that it was used in a critique of the book, which I just did.
Notice how the woman in this video wears a full length cloth dress, as Neolithic folk are often (in error) depicted.
Notice that the cloth she is making, on a Neolithic warp weighted loom, is MUCH coarser than her own clothing. She is making very good cloth, but see how massively more coarse it is than modern linen?
This is a mistake made by so many anthropologist/re-creationist. They need to make the fabric by hand if they want to see the truth of prehistoric fabric.
Now the fabric I am making is extra coarse and the warp is what is seen, not the weft. This is because my garment is a winter coat/vest. Also, the warp being dominant causes the predominant surface texture to be vertical, not horizontal, allowing rain to more easily run off the shirt, rather than sink in.
Even with this backstrap loom, her VERY fine quality fabric is 2-3 times coarser than her dress.
Note, a backstrap is good for loincloths or small items, not dresses lol
Thickness of the weft thread is the big determiner in softness of the garment, thinness of the cloth and how modern it feels. Hand spun thread might be as thin as 1/2mm. I can only hand spin to 1 mm. The thinner the thread, the softer the fabric. Unfortunately, the thinner the thread, the more work is required.
I love your art. Very well researched.
Felt clothing was used during the Neolithic. The process involves matting hair from animals, such as sheep, and allowing the fibers to interconnect under heat, moisture and pressure. The result is a cloth like material which can be used to make clothing. Before making my own felt from scratch using sheet wool, I purchased felt from a store and decided to see whether or not I had the wherewithal to make a felt outfit.
Note: I have worn all of this clothing and find most of it to be rather comfortable. I tend to where the clothing while making the clothing, perhaps to add to the authenticity on making it.
The felt was easy enough to cut using obsidian stone tools. I used cheap store linen to make a prototype design which I tend to the model and then used to cut out the felt. If this were real in the Neolithic, the person in question would probably have simply laid before me as I cut the felt to shape them.
Here I am cutting the arm pieces to fit. In retrospect, I see some errors that I made with the sleeves which I will attempt to remedy when I make the real handmade felt version.
I broke my bone needle months ago and haven’t made a new one sense, though I have two in a few weeks. I used a heavy gauge needle in place. When I make the fully realistic handmade felt peace, I intend to use a handmade bone needle as well as a handmade bone awl. I will make these items in the next week or two.
As you can see, I stitched the sleeves too low, though there may be benefit this is less stress would be put upon the stitching. The stitches themselves are made from flax string. When I make the completely realistic hand felted shirt later on, I will literally hand spin every single fiber that goes into it.
As you can see, it’s a little baggie. They are many practical reasons for doing this which become apparent as you start making said clothing. The first one is the uniformity a fit. The shirt will fit this woman, as well as a man. She and her husband could wear the same shirt which would be quite useful, given how difficult it is to make such a garment. It could be passed down person-to-person and even accommodate a pregnant woman without modification. One merely has to sit before a fire making such a garment by hand to realize such importance. One other benefit of being baggie is the increased warmth of the outfit. The extra pockets of air caused by the excess material trap heat and cause the shirt to be much warmer. Additionally, additional material allows for more flexibility during repairs. You would want to keep such an item for a long time.
Here we see two women from the early Neolithic ready to greet the day. Both have their upper bodies warmed by shirts. Having your legs naked while your upper body is closed is quite useful for thermoregulation in the spring and fall when you can become hot easily, but also feel the nip of: the air. One need merely where the clothing in such conditions to realize the benefit of their legs. Both women are missing shoes, which I have yet to make.
During the hot sun, nothing beats a symbol loincloth. Perhaps the first piece of clothing our ancestors ever created. Not only is a company, but it’s quite stylish. Looking carefully, you’ll notice that this loincloth emphasizes the war, the threads which run vertically, instead of the West, the threads which run horizontally. The reason for this is to encourage water to run vertically and quickly off of the garment rather than be held tightly to it. An examination of tribal huts for many different cultures will quickly reveal that the vertical design is preferred, no matter what building materials used, and for the same reason. For this reason, I chose the uncommon warp emphasized we’ve for my Neolithic fast. This was achieved by simply increasing the density of warp per inch.
You can see this massive increase of warp per inch while looking at my loom. This is perhaps twice the amount of warp moment expect to see in a simple vertical loom. Keep in mind, this vertical loom would probably be in use around 6000 B.C.E., not being as advanced as the warp weighted loom which features a heddle bar allowing for quick transitions between each set of warps, known as forming a shed.
As you can see, the weaving required passing the weaving Batson through each warp without the use of a heddle. My fingers still feel the pain…
The unfinished item was applied to a mannequin and a few quick fixes were made to a few bad stitches.
The shoulder straps were individually bound into Triplett straps, and then woven together. In retrospect, I could’ve made this look a lot nicer, but I lacked the crafting skills to do so. Subsequent linen shirts will be made as panels and sewn together, similar to my afore displayed felt shirt.
The finished product is quite bulky, but it would keep her midsection very warm on a spring or fall day, and add additional warmth during a cold winter. It is meant to be used in conjunction with a sleeved garment, such as a felt shirt. I stepped outside in nearly freezing temperature wearing the shirt and it kept my midsection quite toasty warm, though my arms nearly froze off LOL. Linen can be made finer than this, but not drastically finer than this during the early Neolithic.
As you can see, the sides are simply stitched with flax cord and can be adjusted to fit the wearer.
The Neolithic model is quite warm wearing the shirt, the heavy linen loincloth and a pair of leather leggings. She needs a pair of boots, and perhaps a felt shirt. If she added those two items, she would be good to go and all but a cold winter. It’s hard to see, but she has a linen bag attached to her waist cord to hold objects.
Here’s the same woman standing beside her friend. The friend is sort of a bonus as she’s obviously not wearing linen, but still has an interesting outfit. She wears a string skirt with extensive beadwork and wraps herself in a Wolf for Cape for warmth against the cold of winter. She would probably want to wear a pair of leggings with that string skirt, if not a loincloth to prevent uncomfortable drafts twixt her legs LOL
Here we go… much warmer lol
Note: I don’t use real furs most of the time. That was quite expensive faux fur. It’s very warm and I wore this cloak last night as I was walking around at home.
I have compiled a list of the majority of clothing I have created so far. This clothing is set for the early Western European Neolithic, but some of it may have been used as early as the Mesolithic and as late as the early Bronze Age, depending on the item.
Neolithic clothing was rather complex and diverse. Clothing ranged from simple leather garments to extremely complex woven cloth. Whole panels of cloth were woven using weighted looms allowing for the creation of more sophisticated clothing, such as shawls, skirts, and perhaps even rudimentary dresses. The amount of time required to make even a single square meter of cloth could be quite extreme, as was the amount of time needed to grow the plants which made the fibers used in the cloth. As a result, good quality clothing would be worth a significant value in trade. It is important to consider all of the common forms of Neolithic clothing, not just the basic leather tunic.
Far from simple leather, Neolithic clothing was likely highly decorated with paint, shells and beads. Humans are very artistic and this artistic nature was probably displayed commonly in our clothing, as well as body decorations, such as body paint and feathers.
Some common items:
Leather leggings
Made from either single panels of leather or many small panels sewn together, leather leggings keep the legs warm and protect them from shrubbery, serving the role pants would eventually occupy.
Full size examples made from deer suede leather, 24″ long.
Breechcloth
As the name suggests, the breechcloth covers the opening (the breach) Between leather leggings, pants not having been created yet. While similar to the loincloth, the breechcloth differs in that it is typically longer, wider and often paired with leather leggings. While it could be cloth, during the Neolithic it would more likely be leather.
Examples made from deer suede leather, 60″ long.
Loincloth
The basic loincloth ties to the back of a waist cord with the excess material hanging over the front. They could be many lengths and made of many materials, from basic woven cloth to leather. The loincloth is perhaps the most ancient garment of humanity, worn by all peoples at one time or another.
String skirt
A simple skirt made from individual threads of flax, cotton or other Bast fibers hung around the waist for the purposes of modesty. While not the most covering of items, it provided basic modesty while keeping the wear cool on hot summer days. String skirts, and especially symbolic garments of similar construction, had been used all the way up to modern times in Europe (e.g. The Egtved Girl).
Made from hundreds of hand-spun flax strings.
Leather skirt
Vest (Leather or Cloth)
A leather, for or cloth top piece protecting the upper body from cool air and the sun. Sleeves are not needed until the temperature becomes very cold, and they add additional complexity to an already complex garment. While the picture depicts a well formed vest, and almost smock-like shape would probably have been more common, a vest, like the picture, being very high-quality
This vest is made of extra thick flax cord woven into linen. It is extra rugged.
Shirt - Leather / Felt / Cloth
A full upper garment shirt. Unlike a leather vest, the shirt contains sleeves and a significantly more covering. The shirt in the picture is decorated with shells around the bottom. A quality shirt is an important good and would be kept and maintained as long as possible. Materials could be woven Bast fiber, felt, wool or leather.
Made from a single piece of deer suede leather and decorated with bone beads, bound around the waist with a leather cord, this leather shirt reproduction (the one on the little doll) also features leather leggings and a leather breechcloth, also decorated with bone beads. This woman is ready for her daily work on a cool day.
One of these women wears a brown felt shirt. It’s a little bulky for her, but he keeps her warm as she works. Her friend is wearing a linen vest.
Reed Cloak
A simple cape or cloak-like construct used to protect the wearer from the elements. When thick with multiple overlapping layers, a reed cloak can protect the wearer from wind, rain and snow, keeping precious fur garments dry underneath. In the hot sun, a thin reed cloak can block the sunlight. Famously, Otzi the Iceman was found wearing such a garment.
Fur Cloak
A simple cloak made from for, though leather and cloth could also be used. The cloak could be wrapped around the wearer to keep them warm. Often, only a loincloth would be worn within a warm dwelling during the winter. If someone needed to step outside for a brief moment, a fur cloak was much simpler to wrap around them when donning a full outfit.
Sandals
Simpler than a shoe and much more comfortable upon the feet and warm weather, the sandal was made from a single piece of thick leather and bound tightly by either leather cords for string made from flax or cotton. The sandal would become a staple footwear in warm climates for thousands of years, and the still quite often used today.
Shoes
While more complicated to make been sandals, leather shoes provide a greater protection as well as warmth for the wear. The simplest designs involved leather wrapped around feet and secured with leather cord or flax twine, while more complex designs will form fitted to feet, similar to modern leather shoes.
Made from several pieces of dear leather carefully sewn together, these little shoes keep the doll warm as she works hard on a cool fall evening.
Boots
Like their modern equivalents, Neolithic boots were made from leather for and provided much-needed protection in the cold winters. Neolithic boots were quite sophisticated, often containing multiple layers of different materials. An inner frame of leather and reed might be insulated with dry grasses, covered in thick leather hide and surrounded by fur.
Mittens
Heads and hands would be protected by fur mittens and hats on those warm winter days. Gloves were quite complicated and probably really made. Mittens are simple bag shaped for or leather items covering the hands and keeping them warm, only being removed with complex activities requiring the fingers called for it.
Jewellry
Humans cannot exist long before they begin creating jewelry and other aesthetic adornments. This jewelry serves the purposes of religion, status indication and basic aesthetics. Here is a sample of possible prehistoric jewelry. The longer spikes pieces are made from clay while the small light colored beads are made from bone.
Illustrations © 2017 Stacey Abidi (I commissioned her to make them)
If you’re looking for a good reference picture for a Neolithic shoe, the link below shows one. This will be the basis of my first Footwear item which I will make in a couple weeks.
right now I’m spending my time working on building a full-size warp weighted Loom
Over the years I have been annoyed by how often unrealistic clothing is used to detect scenes from the Neolithic period. This is a disservice to people who wish to learn about the time. And it’s often done for the most absurd of reasons. As far as I can tell, the three most common reasons are:
Reference materials use modern manufacturing processes providing the artist with an incorrect understanding of what they should be making. Modern-day linen doesn’t look like ancient linen, for example.
Solution: Examine museum specimens and re-created examples made using proper techniques.
Modesty: nudity or the need to cover up women’s breasts, because our society addresses human sexuality in the most immature ways possible, result in women wearing absurdly unrealistic outfits while men are often depicted wearing more accurate outfits.
Solution: Either simply depict people as they actually were, or cover up parts that cannot be shown by giving the person something to hold in their hands or having an object depicted in the way, blocking site. This allows a person to look natural as they should be and still achieve societies immature “morality.”
Simple ignorance of the subject matter is a very common cause of air. One of the problems is that the archaeologist for prehistoric enthusiast is often not the artist. The artist must make a scene based in the description of the person requesting it, and sometimes there’s miscommunication or lack of understanding.
Solution: Besides studying books and examining artifacts, see solution number one, consultation with an archaeologist would be preferable. Enthusiasts are fine, but a real archaeologist would be preferable, depending upon the level of effort and the usage of the final product.
An examination of the scene below shows some of these problems. At type 1 error occurs with the pure white downs the people where. Even Romans, who used herein and other techniques for bleaching, would have trouble approaching that level of pearly white. Also, the fabric is quite supple and the panels are too long without seams. What is more obvious is the type to error. Notice that the women in the front where full body coverings, which would be quite hot on what is obviously portrayed as a warm day. Notice that the men and all women who are in the distant background or have their backs completely turned do not wear such outfits. This is obviously an example of a type to error. There may be some type 3 errors hiding in this image, but I don’t see any and someone more qualified may.
]
Actual linen samples:
Examine this fabric sample up close and you can see how less densely woven it is then modern linen. This is exactly the type of linen which we be produced on a basic vertical loom or a warp weighted loom. It is a simple, plain weave. The fibers appear to be 1-0.5mm. this is an extremely high-quality piece of linen from that time period, but you can still see that it’s nowhere near a supple and soft as modern-day linen.
This cotton textile is 6200 years old. It’s not linen, but you can get a good idea what early textiles actually look like. About 1000 years more advanced than the linen sample above, this cotton sample from Peru displays a high quality weave, yet it is still less advanced than most of what is depicted in prehistoric illustrations.
I should point out that in a few days I will have a warp weighted loom fully constructed, and I will be making higher-quality linen textiles. I will post my results here when I’m finished. So far, I can hand spin down to 1mm in both linen and wool. =/
(Yes, they likely have some, but limited quality and quantity is likely)
The Ozti Iceman died around 3300 B.C.E.
He died during the copper age, between 1000 and 3000 years after the height of the Neolithic period, so you would expect that his clothes would be either more advanced than what people of the Neolithic had, or at least equal.
BUT… Far from full length linen tunics perfectly bleached pearly white, as we so often see in Neolithic recreations and depictions, the man wore almost exclusively leather. His leggings and loincloth were made from goat leather, he also wore furs.
Behold, 1,000+ years beyond the Neolithic… no full length linen tunic 
Moving a little bit further ahead in time, ~1920 years or so, we encounter a dancing woman* who was buried in Denmark around the year ~1380 BCE. A member of the Bronze Age, she is several thousand years more advanced than the height of the Neolithic and almost 2000 years more advanced than the Ozti Iceman. Finally, we find a wool woven outfit of the quality and complexity which could have brought us those beautiful full-length linen dresses Neolithic people are often depicted wearing. However, 1920 years is the about the same distance between Julius Caesar and World War II.
Please understand that I’m not suggesting that such clothing didn’t exist until Egtved Girl (the woman pictured below), But as you can see clothing technology had not progressed very far from the Neolithic if what we see on this dancing woman is representative of at least an average textile from her time. Keep in mind, people were often buried in their finest clothing, so this might actually be better quality than common.
*We don’t know if she was actually a dancer, but the outfit is suggestive and many experts have conjectured this.
http://www.anthropark.wz.cz/holocea.htm
Looking at other high quality textiles preserved from the same time as the dancing woman, we see that the textiles are certainly at the same quality or greater than those depicted in Neolithic illustrations, but they are also several thousand years more advanced. One would expect to see a greater degree of advancement in such a period of time if we are to believe that Neolithic people wandered about casually doing their daily chores and high-quality woven textiles. By now, the absurdity of such depiction to be beginning to sink in.
This shirt was made around 2000BCE Egypt, within ~620 years of Egtved Girl
Another example of a problem with interpretation. The people of the Trypillian culture made beautiful figurines with elaborate designs. I often see recreated illustrations depicting their clothing to match these figures. The problem is how complex this would be to weave. I find it more likely these designs were pained upon skin, likely for a ritualistic purpose.
Look at the figure. It doesn’t have the shape of a clothed person.
Consider this woman instead. She is wearing a simple string skirt and her body is pained with swirls. How would she be carved as a figure? Probably a female shape with swirl shapes, but likely not the string skirt.
I have been working hard for months creating Neolithic clothing. I felt it was time to demonstrate some of this in a dire, format. These images were made by me and they are, to the best of my knowledge, faithful attempts that the reproduction of early Neolithic Western European people, my ancestors.
Skin: these women should be significantly darker than the mannequins to portray them. Their skin color should be darker than most Europeans today, as well as tanned from the sun. Light-colored skin had not emerged in Western Europe, in any major sense, at this point.
Clothing: I made all of the clothing by hand using realistic tools and techniques. Even the body paint is made from authentic sources, such as ash and ocher. The styles of clothing are based upon Neolithic art, logical analysis of garments, and a little bit of artistic license.
Gender: All of the models female because I don’t have a male mannequin. Conversely, most prehistoric imagery is of men, so perhaps I’m equaling things.
Nudity: There is nudity, but one must consider that our modern concepts of modesty were likely not present in the Neolithic. Not only can we determine this by looking at their artwork, but from the simple practical reasoning of their clothing and their environment.
Wheat crops are incredibly vital to the survival of the tribe. Brig’dha performs a purification ritual over the freshly sprouted wheat adorned in a wreath of early-bloom lavender and waving a sprig of lavender to drive away spirits which might threaten the crops. The morning is crisp but quickly warms under a spring sun. Brig’dha warms her legs with a pair of deer leather leggings and a long loincloth, her feet bear against the quickly warming soil. She wears clay jewelry, and a polished bone pendant as well as a feather in her hair. Her body is painted to please the fertility gods. A good harvest means life and a failed harvest can mean death.
Kaelu enjoys the cold river water of the Rhine on a hot summer day as she spearfishes. Her three-pronged fishing spear is secured with sinew and quickly retrieved with the help of a flax cord attached to the handle. She wears a simple linen loincloth and her upper body is painted, for modesty sake. The water has washed most of the body paint away from her last ritual. She carries a sprig of lavender in her waist cord for good luck and a beautiful shell necklace for decoration. She is barefoot as shoes are simply unneeded the warm season.
Brig’dha stands before her tribe performing an invocation of the harvest deities for her tribe’s fertility festival. Fertility of land ensures food for the people in the coming year. In her hands, she holds sprigs of European Goldenrod. Her body is painted in wood ash, bone ash, and red ocher, and she wears a flax string skirt around her waist. A pendant to the fertility goddess hangs around her neck, and she is adorned with clay jewelry.
Kaelu prepares for ice fishing. In her hand, she holds a three-pronged fishing spear with a flax cord attached to prevent the spear from being lost. She drapes a wolf fur across her back for extra warmth, though her heavy woven linen vest and felt shirt provide plenty of protection against the wind. Below the waist, she is protected by a wide deer leather loincloth and deer leather leggings, her feet warmed by felt shoes.
