Archaeologists in Schöningen, Germany have found ancient cave bear bones with knife cut marks, suggesting that 300,000 years ago, Stone Age humans skinned the animals for fur to wear. From CNN:
"The study is significant because we know relatively little about how humans in the deep past were protecting themselves from the elements. From this early time period, there is only a handful of sites that show evidence of bear skinning, with Schöningen providing the most complete picture," said study author Ivo Verheijen, a doctoral student at Tübingen University in Germany.
Cave bears were large animals, about the size of a polar bear, that went extinct about 25,000 years ago. The cave bear's coat, which has long outer hairs that form an airy protective layer and short, dense hairs that provide good insulation, was suitable for making simple clothing or bedding, according to the study published in the Journal Of Human Evolution on December 23.
The clothing probably consisted of skins that were wrapped around the body without elaborate tailoring. The eyed needles needed to sew more intricate designs didn't emerge in the archaeological record until about 45,000 years ago.
"Early evidence for bear exploitation during MIS 9 from the site of Schöningen 12 (Germany)" (Journal of Human Evolution)
