The ideas of the ancients about female beauty unequivocally show the found female sculptural images. They have a massive, muscular body, a large belly and chest, which was important for childbearing, and therefore beautiful. However, Paleolithic female figurines were also found, devoid of massiveness and other similar features, which does not exclude other attributes. female beauty, other aesthetic value.

Clothing as a means of protection appeared in man when the climatic conditions associated with glaciation forced him to flee from the cold. At first, back in ancient times, in order to protect against bad weather and insect bites, a person coated his body with clay, damp earth, and fat.

The need to hide from the weather and protect himself from the forces of nature, the causes of which man did not know, forced him to resort to the skins of animals, which he threw on his shoulders. Thus, something in between a blanket and clothes appeared, which can be conditionally called a “veil”. From the intestines of fish, man learned to make waterproof capes, and from herbs and bird feathers - loincloths.

Already at the first stage, a person tried to give shapeless materials - skin, fibers; feathers - the necessary form. Primitive man dressed in a skin - a coverlet that was held on his shoulders and served as a prototype of modern shoulder clothing - a cloak, tunic, cape, and also wore a loincloth made of plant fibers and feathers - the prototype of modern waist clothing - trousers, skirts, aprons and pants.

Already in the Stone Age, man discovered the fibrous structure of some plants and animal hair, and in the Neolithic era he learned to spin, weave and knit. The first fabrics were coarse, like matting, materials woven from plant fibers. The basis of the production of matting is, as is known from historical sources, the skill of weaving baskets; people have mastered this art since ancient times.

Findings of bone needles from the Late Neolithic suggest that sewn animal skins served as clothing at that time. It was in the Neolithic era that man learned to spin and weave, and the initial elements of textile production arose.

The first mention of textile production, according to archaeologists, refers to the 7th millennium BC. e. Even now, the remains of textiles of various weaves of that period have been preserved.

Initially, to create threads and fabrics, a person used the fibers of wild plants, and, having taken up farming and cattle breeding, during the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, he was able to make fabrics from the fibers of cultivated plants (flax, hemp, cotton) and the wool of domestic animals.

Culture developed most rapidly in Asia Minor, Egypt and India, where, on the basis of gathering, plants began to be cultivated very early, even in the Mesolithic. The beginning of livestock breeding also dates back to this time.

Here already from b-5 millennia BC. for the manufacture of clothing, people began to use the wool of sheep, goats, flax stalks. In India already by the end of the 3rd. For thousands of years, cotton has been cultivated and clothing has been made from it.

In the East, in China, about the middle of the 3rd millennium, that is, towards the end of the Neolithic era, a method was found for unwinding a silk cocoon, and clothes made of silk appeared. The Chinese also made clothes from cotton fabrics that came to them from India. And in the 2nd millennium, China had already established the cultivation of cotton and the production of clothing from it.

The development of Neolithic cultures in Europe proceeded on a local basis, but under the strong influence of the cultures of the Near East, from where to Europe already in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. the most important cultivated plants penetrated. Linen fabrics have been found in Neolithic excavations in Switzerland.

On the territory of Eastern Europe, even in the Mesolithic era, great changes were taking place in the economy of primitive society. Along with hunting and fishing, the population began to master agriculture and cattle breeding, process fibrous plants and make twisted ropes, woven nets and fabrics.

Ancient ritual songs and finds of linen products in burial grounds confirm the fact that flax was well known to the Eastern Slavs long before the formation of Kievan Rus.

Around the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. in the treeless plateaus of South America, the ancient Peruvians - the Incas - tamed and began to breed llamas and alpacas, whose wool was spun and from the resulting threads they made fabrics and knitted clothes.

By the end of the Stone Age, man already had a whole wardrobe of various clothes, which he knew how to make both from animal skins and from various fabrics, having learned how to spin, weave and knit. Now not only skins, but also rectangular pieces of fabric, he could throw on his shoulders or hips, tie or wrap around the body horizontally, diagonally or in a spiral.

Depending on the materials used and the geographic region, the clothes were attached to the figure in different ways: wrapped around the body or draped around the body. Draped clothing wrapped the body and was held with strings, belts, clasps.

A man learned to sew not only skins, but also pieces of fabric, bending them in half and leaving holes for the hands unsewn, and cutting a hole in the middle for the head. Having cut the front in the middle, he got a swinging garment.

When answering the question when did the clothes"?" The opinions of scientists differ. According to the most cautious hypothesis, clothing appeared about 40 thousand years ago, which is confirmed by archaeological data, since it is this time that the oldest found needles for sewing date back. According to the most daring hypotheses, the appearance of clothing could coincide with the loss human ancestors of the main part of the hairline, which happened about 1.2 million years ago.There is also a hypothesis that the time of the appearance of the first clothes can be found on the basis of when body lice, which live only on clothes, appeared.Genetics say that body lice separated from head lice at least 83 thousand years ago, and possibly even earlier than 170 thousand years ago.There are also bolder estimates of the time of appearance of body lice - from 220 thousand to 1 million years ago.

Most likely, clothes arose not so much as protection from the cold (tribes are known who did without clothes, even living in a harsh climate, for example, the Indians of Tierra del Fuego), but as magical protection from outside threats. Amulets, tattoos, painting on a naked body initially played the same role as later clothes, protecting the owner with the help of magical power. Subsequently, the tattoo patterns were transferred to the fabric. For example, the multi-colored checkered tattoo pattern of the ancient Celts has remained the national pattern of Scottish fabric.

The first materials for clothing of primitive man were vegetable fibers and skins. The ways of wearing skins in the form of clothes were different. This is wrapping around the torso, attaching to the belt, when a good shelter for the pelvis and legs was obtained; putting on the shoulders through the slot for the head (future amice), throwing it over the back and tying the paws around the neck to make a warm cape in the form of a raincoat. How more people complicated his clothes, the more various fasteners and additions appeared on it. These are claws, bones, feathers of birds, fangs of animals.

Clothing of the ancient Germans of the Stone Age:

At the Paleolithic site of Sungir (the territory of the Vladimir region), the estimated age of which is 25 thousand years, in 1955, burials of teenagers were found: a boy 12-14 years old and a girl 9-10 years old. The teenagers' clothes were sheathed with mammoth bone beads (up to 10 thousand pieces), which made it possible to reconstruct their clothes (which turned out to be similar to the costume of modern northern peoples). The reconstruction of clothing from the Sungir site can be seen in the following figure:

In 1991, the ice mummy of the primitive man "Ötzi", who lived 3300 years BC, was found in the Alps. Ötzi's clothes are partially preserved and have been reconstructed (see picture).

Ötzi's clothes were quite intricate. He wore a woven straw cloak, as well as a leather waistcoat, belt, leggings, loincloth, and shoes. In addition, a bearskin hat with a leather strap over the chin was found. Wide waterproof shoes, apparently, were designed for hiking in the snow. They used bearskin for soles, buckskin for uppers, and bast for lacing. Soft grass was tied around the leg and used as warm socks. The waistcoat, belt, windings and loincloth were made from strips of leather sewn together with tendons. A pouch was attached to the belt. useful things: scraper, drill, flint, bone arrow and dry mushroom used as tinder.
In addition, about 57 tattoos of dots, lines and crosses were found on Ötzi's body.

At the beginning of the Mesolithic era, with a change in climate, communities of primitive people began to master new ways of obtaining food, no longer limited to simple gathering and hunting. With the birth of cattle breeding and agriculture, man began to produce food on his own. It was the formation of an ancient civilization, a historical milestone in the development of mankind. At the same time, the concept of clothing appeared, which became a way of protection from a cold climate, various insects, and the claws of predators. She could soften the blow of the enemy and even served as a screen from evil spirits.

Body painting instead of clothes

One of the first manifestations of the desire of ancient people for self-expression was body painting and tattooing. Even in those distant times, people already knew how to prepare paints of a fairly extensive palette, using coal, ocher, lime, manganese, adding fat, to create makeup that was applied to the body. The coloring process itself, as a rule, wore deep meaning- whether it is the application of a combat pattern that terrifies the enemy, or a ritual pattern for the rite of passage of a young man into an adult man. The drawings conveyed information about where the person came from, from which tribe, what his status, his merits.

Elements of primitive clothing

The headdress appeared later, displaying social status his master. Variety of headwear distinctive feature priests, shamans, rulers.

Also, jewelry made from fangs, bones, tusks, shells, feathers, pearls, corals and other materials can also be attributed to the elements of clothing. These things performed a dual function: they were carriers of information about a person and protected the owner's body from the effects of the external environment.

Mammoth tusk jewelry

The main material for the production of clothing of those times were the skins of animals. Most likely, the inhabitants of the North were the first to sew clothes from pieces of skins. The main types of clothing worn were trousers, raincoats and tunics, which could be decorated with stones and shells. Fur shoes were sewn to warm and protect the feet. Thin strips of leather were used as ribbons, needles for sewing together the skin with “threads” from tendons were made from bone.

First fabric

A little later, the primitive people of the Middle East learned to make fabric from wool. In other regions, plant fibers - flax, bast, cactus, cotton - became the basis for clothing. Dyes were also prepared from plants, used for dyeing clothes, when dressing skins.

clothing development

The first cloaks made of skins further developed into different types clothes worn on the shoulders - ponchos, tunics, shirts, togas, cloaks. The loincloths turned into skirts, pants. Simple pieces of leather on the feet became the basis for the development of such types of shoes as moccasins, chuni. Shoes were also made from wood, bark. The evolution of clothing took place constantly and steadily, it more and more corresponded to the special needs of each people, adjusted to the climatic features of different regions, became more diverse and technologically more complex.

The first person to wear clothes, according to historians, was a hunter during the Ice Age. As you know, this period was characterized by a cold climate on the planet, which made the existence of primitive man especially uncomfortable. Clothing carried the function of protection from cold, wind and precipitation. It was made from the skins of various animals, it was rough, shapeless, but it performed the main function - it made it possible to live in the conditions of the north. The skins went through several stages of processing, namely: scraping, drying, softening and making sheets of the desired length and width.

The first stage consisted of animal skin fastened with stakes to the ground and scraped clean. After the skin was cleanly scraped, it was pulled tightly over stones, trees - everything that could help avoid contraction, drying of the skin during the drying stage. The dried skin had to be softened, it was beaten off with stones, wooden sticks, stretched by hand. And the finished skin was cut with a pointed stone into separate pieces, which, in turn, were pierced with a special stone (a prototype of a modern awl) and holes were made. Large skins were sewn together with thin strips of leather, a little later a prototype of modern threads appeared - horsehair, durable and more plastic than a thin leather strip.

A little later, a stone needle was invented, they were also made from bones and horns. This made it possible to stitch the skins of animals more accurately, the clothes began to take on a clearer shape - pants, tunics. Also, bags and shoes were sewn from the skins, tied to the leg with leather strips.

It was here, along with the need to protect his body from the cold, that primitive man began to take care of aesthetics. appearance. There was a desire to decorate clothes. The first decorations were made of pebbles, shells, clay figurines.

When agriculture appeared along with hunting, primitive man noticed that some plants, or rather parts of them, give color when wet. So, for example, the bark of trees, the shells of nuts are red, and the leaves of indigo are blue, the leaves of lavsonia are from yellow to brown. The clothes began to be dyed.

Along with dyeing clothes, people learned to make fabrics from plant fibers (flax, bast), as well as to get yarn from animal hair. These fabrics were also dyed, and some kind of tunics and trousers were sewn from them.

Judging by the rock paintings, both men and women wore jewelry. These were beads made of pebbles, seeds, necklaces made of shells, feathers, bones of fish and animals, horns, teeth and tusks. Bead threads were made from thin strips genuine leather, and later - from plant fibers.

Hairstyles were also given attention. They were braided into a kind of braid and decorated with wooden combs and pins made of bones and pebbles, shells and teeth were also used to decorate hair.

Thus, depending on the conditions of existence in the cold climate of the Ice Age and the availability of improvised means, primitive man became a trendsetter for fur clothes decorated with pebbles, shells and fish bones, as well as fur shoes fastened with leather laces on the leg.

What do people know about primitive man? In fact, quite a bit. It is known that he lived in caves, hunted mammoths, used a club as a weapon, and dressed in the skins of dead animals.

Having even such fragmentary knowledge about the first people, you can make an excellent costume of a primitive man with your own hands. For a child in a kindergarten, for a holiday, for a performance at school or a performance in the theater - the outfit will suit any thematic event.

Parts of the suit

How to make a primitive man costume? Before you start assembling the outfit, you need to decide what the costume will consist of.

Their clothes were uncomplicated - torn skins with uneven edges, roughly swept with pieces of leather or veins, or girded with leather thread. They replaced both pajamas, and "business attire", and evening suit. For a very cold season, another skin could be stored, which was used as a cloak or cape.

Jewelry was the same for everyone - animal bones that were tied to hair or strung on a thread like beads. Bones could decorate the belt.

Bandages on the forearms and lower legs were used as additional accessories.

The most important attribute is a club. Both women and men had it. The difference was only in the size of the weapon - men, as stronger representatives of the tribe, relied on a club more than women. Consequently, the costume of a primitive man for a boy and for a girl is made in the same way, only the club will be of different sizes.

Hair is the final part of the outfit. Soap and shampoo were not yet known to our ancestors, respectively, the hairstyle on the head was remotely similar to a neat modern styling. To create a complete image, you will need a wig.

So, the costume will consist of:

• basic clothing;
• capes;
• belts and jewelry;
• clubs;
• wig;
• bandages.

Basic clothing

Our ancestors dressed in the skins of captured animals. Therefore, the colors should match and be similar to genuine leather or fur. For this purpose, fabric of any quality is well suited. The color is brown, leopard or brindle. You should not opt ​​for shiny fabrics, they are not very appropriate for this purpose. But felt, velor, artificial suede - that's it.

Models may vary. The simplest option is winding with a knot on one shoulder.

It will take about 1.5 fabrics to work.

The material is folded in half, a rectangle is obtained. On the side where the fold is, the middle is outlined. You can do it by eye; the costume does not have to be perfect and symmetrical: primitive people were far from haute couture. Also, the middle is located along the long side of the rectangle. The dots are connected to each other, and the fabric is cut off. It turns out that a triangle was cut out of a large rectangle.

Where the fabric at the fold remained connected, there will be a shoulder. The side that has become short must be sewn with a classic thread with a needle. And you can be original by connecting parts of the outfit with coarse stitches. For the second option, you need to make holes in the fabric on both sides with nail scissors, and then with a knitting thread suitable color or tie the halves together with a thin cord. You can do it crosswise - like lacing on sneakers, or you can thread it through each hole. Which way to choose - depends only on the imagination of the master.

Easy option

The second option is the easiest. In a piece of fabric folded in half, a hole for the head is cut in the middle from the side of the fold. You don't need to sew anything: the clothes are girdled - and that's it. Do-it-yourself costume of a primitive man for a boy can be considered almost ready!

Well, an option for summer cavemen is a loincloth. A piece of fabric is cut into strips of different widths. The main strip, equal to the girth of the hips, acts as a base, the rest of the flaps are hung on it.

Cape

The cape is made from the same fabric as the main part. But you can choose any other texture, dense material is best.

For a cape, you can make holes in the upper part of the fabric, thread a cord through them and use a cord to tie it around your neck. More easy option- tie the two ends of the cape in a knot and throw it over your head.

Belt and decorations

The primitive man's costume is decorated natural materials- bones and bandages.

To make bandages for arms and legs, you need to cut 4 strips of fabric, 2 of which are equal to the girth of the forearm above the elbow, and 2 others are equal to the girth of the leg below the knee.

Strips are hung on strips of fabric according to the same principle as for such an ornament is tied to a knot right on the arm or leg.

The costume of a primitive man is decorated with bones. You can easily make them yourself polymer clay. Also, similar accessories are sold in needlework stores - beads in the form of bones, teeth are easy to string on a thread and convenient to use.

From polymer clay white color, previously kneaded in the hands, make animal fangs or bones. After heat treatment (manufacturers write the rules for working with clay on packs), holes are made in each blank, then the resulting parts are strung on a thread or strip of leather. Such decorations can also be strung on the ends of the strips from which the loincloth for hands and feet is made.

The caveman is often depicted with a bone in his hair. In order to make such an ornament for a boy, you will have to stock up on a hair hoop and a gun with glue or a long thread. A drop of glue is applied to the hoop and a large bone is attached. And with a thread, this accessory can simply be strongly tied. A bone tied directly to the hair will look best, but this will require skill, since boys usually have short hair.

Wig

The costume of a primitive man completes the headdress. The easiest way to buy a wig with tangled hair is in a specialty store. Making such an accessory on your own is no more difficult than tying a knot on a bandage.

From a hoop and a bundle of wool for felting, you can make an excellent model of hair. You will need strands of wool Brown carefully glue to the hoop in several layers. The blank is decorated with a bone, which is tied to the strands exactly in the center.