- Sewing
The history of sewing is closely allied to the history of tools. The earliest needles ever discovered date from the Paleolithic era (the early Stone Age), around 25,000 B.C.E. Key finds from that period include needles in southwest France and near Moscow in Russia. These were made of ivory or bone, with an eyelet gouged out. Some have been found alongside the. remains of foxes and hares that were used for their fur.
Sewing gave our early ancestors the opportunity to make. clothing more closely tailored to the. human body, improving its insulation and comfort, as well as Inviting decoration. Early scraps of cloth found in France and Switzerland have included decorative seeds or animal teeth sewn on by thread, applied perhaps with the aid of fishbones or thorns. Native Americans sewed With the tips of agave leaves.
Metal needles were developed in the Bronze Age (2000-800 B.C.E.) and initially were made of several strands of wire melted together. Needles from this era have been found in North Africa and China, where steel was introduced. The first known stitched buttonhole dates from 4200 B.C.E.
Embroidery-complex, decorative needlework- appeared in Bronze Age Egypt and India. In China silk was being sewn and embroidered in the same era. Protective thimbles have been used since Roman times. The famous Bayeux tapestry, depicting the Norman invasion of England, is an example of crewelwork, a form of embroidery with loosely twisted yarn. At least four types of stitch have between identified in the tapestry. Later, the mechanization of textile production began in the sixteenth century n the stocking frame, which led to automated looms. Hand- stitching was transformed from the 1830s onward by the arrival of the sewing machine.
SEE ALSO: CLOTHING, SHOE, WOVEN CLOTH, SPINNING JENNY, SPINNING MULE, SEWING MACHINE
- Shadow Clock
The sun travels across the sky at the rate of 15 degrees per hour (reappearing at a given point after one day) and the shadow that it casts moves at a similar rate. In sunny climes the shadow has been used
as a clock. The most ancient clock was the vertical obelisk. This tapering column, rather like Cleopatra’s Needle in London, cast a shadow that varied in its length and orientation as the day progressed.
The Egyptians had a small, portable shadow clock. It consisted of a T-shaped bar that lay on the ground, except that close to the shorter crossbar was a 90-degree bend that lifted the crossbar above the long horizontal stem so that its shadow would fall on the stem. The long stem was pointed directly toward the west point on the horizon in the morning. At noon, it was pointed in the reverse direction, toward the east. There were five variably spaced markers on the bar, the one directly under the "T” indicating where the shadow would be at noon and the subsequent ones for the five hours between noon and sunset (or sunrise and noon if it was being used in the morning). The Egyptians divided the period when the sun was above the horizon into ten "hours." There were two more "hours" for the twilight dawn and dust periods, and the night was divided into twelve "hours," making the twenty-four-hour day.
The use of this shadow clock required the Egyptians to have an accurate knowledge of the direction of their cardinal points. North, south, east, and west were very important to them, as is demonstrated by the sides of their pyramids, which are aligned very accurately in these directions.
SEE ALSO: WATER CLOCK, TOWER CLOCK, PENDULUM CLOCK, CLOCKWORK MECHANISM, ATOMIC CLOCK, QUARTZ WATCH