ErikaMoen
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PROJECT/ESSAY: A Stitch in Time
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 06:09:20 +0000 UTCOh dang, so archaeologists in Wyoming found 13,0000 year old sewing needle fragments and I am just marveling at their hypothesis that humans probably couldn't migrate into North America until they'd figured out how to sew "sophisticated" clothes against the cold.
Once equipped with warm, close-fitting garments, humans had the capacity to expand their range to places from which they were previously excluded due to the threat of hypothermia or death from exposure, according to the study, making eyed needles an extremely important prehistoric innovation.
It is “no coincidence” that needles are found at the oldest sites in North America — the continent was likely unoccupied until humans had the ability to make tailored clothes, Gilligan noted.
“Regardless of how good they were as hunter-gatherers, humans could never push into regions like northern Siberia without sophisticated clothes,” Gilligan said.
-- "Archaeologists discover key tool that helped early Americans survive the ice age." by Katie Hunt.
I marveled about this on BlueSky until Cartoonist/Prehistory Nerd, Ray Baehr, blew my mind even further by pointing out:
"People have been making sophisticated clothing for a lot longer than 13,000 years so it couldn't have been the only factor that made migrating to North America possible. The oldest needles are 40,000 years old and there's even evidence of weaving from 30,000 years ago."
Like.
How do I even explain why this is hitting me so hard?
I sew! I sew a lot!
I embroider some truly ridiculous bullshit and I mend the clothing of both friends and strangers. I hold a steel needle between my fingers and I suck the frayed tip of thread so it'll go through the eye and I pull it through the layers of cloth until they're stitched down tight.
It's this important practice in my life and it... it goes back tens of thousands of years! IT'S THE REASON HUMANS COULD MIGRATE ONTO INHOSPITABLE CONTINENTS?? Like, they literally couldn't do it until they invented bone sewing needles strung with sinew and created Ice Age-proof clothing.
Like.
Isn't that amazing?
It's 40,000 years later and not only are we still practicing this same skill with essentially the same tools, but that craft may have very well been the reason humans could even exist on an uninhabitable landmass. Like.
Don't you just feel that in your heart?
Now, if you'll exCUSE me, I've got to get back to this scale replica of a 1990's Batman: The Animated Series McDonald's Happy Meal Box that I am painstakingly recreating through embroidery.
It's what my ancestors would have wanted.
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(A version of this post was originally farted out on BlueSky.)
Comments
Laura Shumaker
Thank you, Erika!
Erika Moen
Thank you for asking, I’m flattered that you’re interested! I’m afraid I don’t have time to take on commissions for the immediate future, but when I do I will absolutely make a giant announcement to my patrons first. I miss commissions! They’re fun <:)
Dirk Bergstrom
Wow, that's a serious embroidery project. I did a little bit of it in my early teens, and I would not have the patience or the stick-to-it-iveness to do it now. Super cool work.
The Ferret
Right? People are so amazing. It makes my heart so full. And that embroidery is looking amazing!
allanfranta
You want to blow your mind? Over 110,000 years ago, the Pleiades (in some cultures the Seven Sisters) were visible as 7 distinct stars; around 110,000 years ago, one of the stars moved behind one of the others in the group, making 6 stars. WE TELL STORIES ABOUT THIS! And by WE, I mean every culture on the planet tells stories about what happened to the missing star, from native First Peoples in the Americas to aboriginals in Australia and everywhere in between. These stories have been told for over 110,000 years!
Holly Jones
Humans have also been around north (and south) America for a lot longer than 13000 years. If Europeans listened to indigenous people it wouldn't have taken so much carbon dating to show that.. https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/10/05/tests-confirm-humans-tramped-around-north-america-more-than-20-000-years-ago/ https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/indigenous-archaeologist-argues-humans-may-have-arrived-here-130-000-years-ago-1.6313892
Laura Shumaker
Erica, I just want to pop in to say that your embroidery is GORGEOUS. Love the stitch control on Ivy's bodice. Also, is there some FAQ page or something I can look at to familiarize myself with how you take on work commissions?
Deniz Bevan
I'm not great at sewing but I think of these things while I knit! It's so awesome 🤗
