Phytoliths reveal the earliest fine reedy textile in China at the Tianluoshan site.

Houyuan Lu,Naiqin Wu,Yonglei Wang,Keyang He,Xiujia Huan,Jianping Zhang,Guoping Sun,Rowan Flad

doi:10.1038/srep18664

Abstract

Textiles are among the longest and most widespread technologies in human history, although poor preservation of perishable artifacts in Paleolithic and Neolithic contexts makes them difficult to unearth and has hampered study of their production and use. Here we report evidence of a plain-woven mat from the Tianluoshan site, Zhejiang, Eastern China. Phytolith and AMS dating from the mat and modern reference collections shown that the mat was made of reeds (Phragmites australis (Cav.)) and dated to 6775–6645 cal. yr. BP. This is the earliest directly dated fiber artifact so far known in China, over at least one thousand years earlier than any established dates for woven remains elsewhere. The evidence of the mat and other related remains suggest that textile products might occur earlier than 7000–8000 years ago and are significant for understanding the history of textiles, as well as production and human adaptation in Neolithic China.

Highlights

Textiles, webs of interlaced threads produced on a loom or frame with continuous plane surfaces, are recognized as a significant technology in human evolution[1,2,3]
Mat-like crafts have been found in middle Neolithic China, at the sites of Hemudu and Tianluoshan sites, but to date these only have been described briefly in the excavation reports, and previously none have had the raw material used identified to a species-level, nor have they been directly dated 22–24
The yellow colored mat-like material was found horizontally embedded in black mud, 210 cm in depth in the excavation unit T204, in the 8th stratum, which belongs to the first stage of the Tianluoshan site (Figs 1,2)[23]

Summary

Introduction

Webs of interlaced threads produced on a loom or frame with continuous plane surfaces, are recognized as a significant technology in human evolution[1,2,3]. Evidence to date suggests the fiber of wild plants was the principal raw material for early textiles and cordage[1,12], as was true elsewhere in the world[13]. Because the most common evidence of textiles is limited to imprints of the weave on fragments of pottery[1,18,19,20], identification of raw materials or specific functions beyond cordage used for ceramic production can be inaccurate or inadequate[1,3,15,16,17,21]. Mat-like crafts have been found in middle Neolithic China, at the sites of Hemudu and Tianluoshan sites, but to date these only have been described briefly in the excavation reports, and previously none have had the raw material used identified to a species-level, nor have they been directly dated 22–24.

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Conclusion