Rabat, Morocco — Archaeologists in Morocco have identified clothesmaking tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, one of the researchers said.
“It’s a major discovery because while older bone tools have been found elsewhere, it’s the first time we have identified bone tools (this old) that were used to make clothing,” Moroccan archaeologist Abdeljalil El Hajraoui said.
The international team discovered more than 60 tools in Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the North African country’s capital.
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They had been “intentionally shaped for specific tasks that included leather and fur working,” the team wrote in a study published in the journal iScience.
The discovery could help answer questions on the origins of modern human behavior, said El Hajraoui, a researcher at the National Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (INSAP).
