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Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

acoup.blog

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Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#4

Very interesting. But it really could do with an illustrative video showing how spindle and distaff are used.

"The great advantage the distaff provides is portability (note this video for a demonstration)." linking to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQYdmRw-gHM

Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#6
post #5

This doesn't explain how clothing was made in earliest times. How did people wear anything at all, besides animal skins? Lots of Native American tribes didn't seem to wear much. And uncontacted tribes today, either.

Depends on the climate. What we think of as civilization also comes with cold winters where humans cannot survive without lots of clothing. Native American tribes had warm clothing where it was needed for life.

Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#7
post #5

This doesn't explain how clothing was made in earliest times. How did people wear anything at all, besides animal skins? Lots of Native American tribes didn't seem to wear much. And uncontacted tribes today, either.

The author's historical speciality is Classical Antiquity (primarily Rome, IIRC), so his knowledge of pre-agricultural civilizations isn't particularly strong.

He does mention the Native Americans' typical use of "buckskin" in his prior post about the Dothraki's relation to historical steppe peoples (https://acoup.blog/2020/12/04/collections-that-dothraki-hord...).

Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#8
post #6
post #5

This doesn't explain how clothing was made in earliest times. How did people wear anything at all, besides animal skins? Lots of Native American tribes didn't seem to wear much. And uncontacted tribes today, either.

Depends on the climate. What we think of as civilization also comes with cold winters where humans cannot survive without lots of clothing. Native American tribes had warm clothing where it was needed for life.

Like egypt, iraq, the pearl river valley? You know the historical origins of all eurasian agricultural societies and all places without a significant cold winter at all?

Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#9
post #5

This doesn't explain how clothing was made in earliest times. How did people wear anything at all, besides animal skins? Lots of Native American tribes didn't seem to wear much. And uncontacted tribes today, either.

Regarding Native American tribes, the author specifically mentions evidence for the backstrap loom in Incan villages pre-contact and evidence for ground looms in the late Neolithic.

Re: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round

#10
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the climate. What we think of as civilization also comes with cold winters where humans cannot survive without lots of clothing. Native American tribes had warm clothing where it was needed for life.

Like egypt, iraq, the pearl river valley? You know the historical origins of all eurasian agricultural societies and all places without a significant cold winter at all?

Baghdad can freeze. Egypt can nearly.

We all came from Africa, along the equator. Leaving that environment put special pressure on homo sapiens, including adapting culturally to extreme temperatures.

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