The History of Clothing

Prehistoric · East Asia · Before 3000 BCE

Prehistoric East Asian Clothing

East Asia's prehistoric textile traditions produced two of humanity's most important fabric innovations — silk and hemp cloth — millennia before written records began.

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Silk and the Yangshao Culture

Neolithic Yangshao culture pottery vessel on a tall foot Sanmenxia City Museum, Henan. Photo: Gary Todd. Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The origins of silk production in China reach far deeper into prehistory than once believed. Archaeological evidence from the Yangshao culture (c. 5000–3000 BCE) and related Neolithic sites along the Yellow River suggests that silk was being produced by the fourth millennium BCE, and traces of silk protein in graves at Jiahu, in Henan, are about 8,500 years old — though whether the earliest silk came from domesticated silkworms (Bombyx mori) or wild moths is still uncertain. A silk cocoon cut with a sharp blade, found in 1926 at a Yangshao site in Shanxi province, is among the earliest physical evidence of deliberate silk processing. Carbonized silk fabric wrapped around children's burials at Qingtai and Wanggou in Henan, dated to roughly 3600–3300 BCE, is among the oldest surviving woven silk, and parts of a primitive loom from the Hemudu culture in Zhejiang show how early weaving developed in the south — evidence of a sophisticated understanding of sericulture even in this remote period.

Alongside silk, most prehistoric East Asian clothing likely relied on plant fibers such as hemp (Cannabis sativa), one of the oldest cultivated fiber plants in the region. Hemp fibers were retted, spun, and woven into coarse but durable cloth suitable for everyday garments. The Yangshao people left fragments of woven cloth on human remains in graves, and spindle whorls — small weighted discs used in hand spinning — are common finds at Neolithic Chinese sites, indicating that textile production was a routine household activity across Neolithic Chinese settlements.

Animal Skins and Early Tailoring

Perforated jade plaque of the Hongshan culture, northeastern China Hongshan culture plaque, jade (nephrite). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain (Open Access).

In the colder northern reaches of prehistoric East Asia — Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Korean Peninsula — animal hides and furs remained essential clothing materials well into the Neolithic period. Populations in these regions developed skilled techniques for curing and softening hides using stone scrapers, and bone needles found at numerous sites confirm that fitted, sewn garments were produced. The combination of hide clothing in the north and plant-fiber textiles in the south established a climatic division in dress that would persist for millennia.

As Neolithic communities grew more complex, evidence suggests that clothing began to carry social meaning. Burial sites from the Hongshan culture (c. 4700–2900 BCE) in northeastern China reveal differences in grave goods and personal adornment that imply distinctions of status. Jade ornaments, bone hairpins, and shell beads were likely sewn onto or worn with garments, foreshadowing the elaborate costume hierarchies of later Chinese dynasties. The prehistoric foundations of East Asian textile culture — silk, hemp, and a deep association between dress and social order — were firmly in place before the Bronze Age began.

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