Leatherwork in prehistory

Listen the audio

What was our ancestors' life like 35,000 years ago?

They lived in small communities and, in order to survive, they had to adapt to their environment and make use of what nature offered them. So, they lived in caves to shelter from the harsh weather, collected fruits and hunted animals.

It is believed that these communities assigned tasks based on each person's skills and abilities. Everyone participated, regardless of age or gender. This is why they are considered to be relatively egalitarian communities.

Their lives revolved around making the most of any resource. For instance, when they hunted animals, they made use of every part. Of course they got protein from eating the meat, but they also utilized the intestines, the horns, the skin, and the bones.

At this stand, you can learn how to make a prehistoric bag using the available materials, in 5 steps. The tactile elements on the table are arranged from left to right.

We begin with a piece of leather. It has two quite different sides: the outer side is hairy, while the inner side is smoother. To obtain such a piece, the skin had to be carefully separated from the flesh. However, there were always bits of meat that needed to be scraped off to avoid rotting. Feel the tool with a wooden handle that is attached to the table with a chain? It's a scraper, used precisely for that. Its round flint stone with sharp edges was useful to scrape any meat off the skin until it was clean and smooth. Then, the leather piece was left to dry in the sun.

Next, we find a piece of bone and a sewing needle made from this material.

In the third set, next to a similar needle, there is a pointed and sharp flint tool called a "perforator." It was used to make a hole through the eye of the needle so the thread could go through. Can you feel it?

In the fourth step, we'll need to make sure that the needle is smoothed out. We will rub it with a sandstone, similar to sandpaper, to remove any roughness, so it can slide smoothly when sewing.

Finally, we will sew the bag using plant fibers. Although we don't know exactly what these bags looked like or what designs they had, it serves as an example of what they could create with the materials available. These bags were used to carry one's belongings. In a nomadic community, it was essential to keep all tools tidied up and be ready to move.

How do we know about their activities? Most organic elements, like leather, have been lost. However, thanks to experimental archaeology, experts have deduced how they used and transformed leather, as well as the tools and processes involved in creating items like footwear, clothing, gloves, and bags like this one.