Abstract
Pottery, bone implements, and stone tools are routinely found at Neolithic sites. However, the integrity of textiles or silk is susceptible to degradation, and it is therefore very difficult for such materials to be preserved for 8,000 years. Although previous studies have provided important evidence of the emergence of weaving skills and tools, such as figuline spinning wheels and osseous lamellas with traces of filament winding, there is a lack of direct evidence proving the existence of silk. In this paper, we explored evidence of prehistoric silk fibroin through the analysis of soil samples collected from three tombs at the Neolithic site of Jiahu. Mass spectrometry was employed and integrated with proteomics to characterize the key peptides of silk fibroin. The direct biomolecular evidence reported here showed the existence of prehistoric silk fibroin, which was found in 8,500-year-old tombs. Rough weaving tools and bone needles were also excavated, indicating the possibility that the Jiahu residents may possess the basic weaving and sewing skills in making textile. This finding may advance the study of the history of silk, and the civilization of the Neolithic Age.
Highlights
Located in the middle of Henan Province, China, Jiahu is one of the most representative early Neolithic Age ruins in central China
Peptides of silk fibroin were identified in the samples from M436 and M451 by analysing the data-dependent acquisition using nanoscale capillary liquid chromatography (nano LC)-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS
The data from the M436 and M451 samples shown in Table 2, indicate that most of the surviving peptides belonged to the heavy chain crystalline regions, which is consistent with our previous findings
Summary
Located in the middle of Henan Province, China, Jiahu is one of the most representative early Neolithic Age ruins in central China. Twenty 14C dates indicate that the settlement developed over three sub-periods: 9,000 BP to 8,500 BP, 8,500 BP to 8,000 BP, and 8,000 BP to500 BP [1,2] (no isotope dates have been obtained directly from the tombs; they should fall into these three categories). The excavated biological remains, including pollen, phytoliths and soil micromorphology, indicate that Jiahu’s warm and humid climate favoured the growth of mulberry trees, which feed the silkworm, and enabled Jiahu inhabitants to settle and develop agriculture [6]. Evidence indicates that the earliest clothes made from animal skin were produced approximately 70,000 years ago or more [7]. Wild flax fibres were made into textiles approximately
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