Question

Why did Neanderthals start wearing leather clothing?
A) They find it fashionable
B) This was a social norm during those days
C) To protect themselves from freezing temperature
D) All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Neanderthals are an extinct human species that lived in Eurasia until roughly 40,000 years ago. Assimilation into modern human DNA, extreme climatic change, disease, or a combination of these events led to their extinction. They were entirely supplanted by early modern people in Europe.

Complete answer:
The Neanderthals, who lived 400,000 years ago, provide greater evidence: the structure of musculature on Neanderthal arms implies that they performed chores such as hide preparation on a regular basis. Despite having better cold-adapted bodies than we have, a 2012 study found that Neanderthals may have been required to cover up to 80% of their bodies to survive the hard winters.

We presumably needed to cover up to 90% of our bodies in the winter, which could explain why we created more modern-looking clothes than the fur cloaks that Neanderthals are thought to have worn. We were utilising bone and stone needles and awls to sew stitched, fitted garments to keep us warm by roughly 40,000 years ago.

Our closest extinct human ancestors are Neanderthals. During the Pleistocene Epoch, they first appeared at least 200,000 years ago. People lived during the Ice Age, and to keep warm, they began to wear leather garments and sought refuge in limestone caverns.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note: Clothing adoption may have left marks on some hangers-on in modern humans (Homo sapiens): a 2011 study revealed that clothing lice began to genetically separate from human head lice around 170,000 years ago, suggesting a date for when people began to wear clothes.