The Textile Hypothesis

Abstract

Beginning in the Levant at the end of the Pleistocene era 11,700 years ago and emerging subsequently in other regions, the advent of farming and food production sustained a massive expansion of human populations, facilitated a host of socioeconomic and technological developments, and transformed much of the world’s land surface. The capacity of farming to support a rapidly growing population may appear to explain why farming first began. However, fundamental questions remain, including whether farming was ever a preferred subsistence option for mobile foragers—and for early farmers. In addition to the failure of farming to appear anywhere in the world prior to the early Holocene, the security and flexibility of hunting and gathering contrasts with the disadvantages associated with relying on farming for food. In querying the prevailing food paradigm, it is argued that fibre production for woven cloth in response to warmer, moister climate regimes in the early Holocene tipped the balance in favour of farming. Contingent on complex clothing acquiring social functions of dress and modesty during the late Pleistocene, and considered in conjunction with the early farming dispersal hypothesis, the textile hypothesis circumvents unfounded presumptions and offers a parsimonious explanatory paradigm for the origins of farming.