History

The discoveries offer rare physical evidence that early communities in the region used advanced sewing and fiber technologies near the end of the last Ice Age.

The artifacts include hide fragments showing clear signs of stitching and bone needles with carefully shaped eyes. Together, they point to fitted clothing made using deliberate and skilled techniques far earlier than previously documented in the region. The findings were published in Science Advances.

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Researchers said the most remarkable artifact is a fragment of elk hide with a thread sewn through its edge. The thread connects the main hide piece to a smaller fragment tied with a knot, providing rare, direct evidence of sewn clothing from the Ice Age. Chemical analysis confirmed the hide came from a North American elk. Researchers dated the material three separate times, each confirming an age of roughly 12,000 years.

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The study also examined 14 bone needles recovered from four sites. Analysis showed the needles were carved from the bones of bison and mountain sheep, animals common in Ice Age environments across the region. Such tools are extremely rare. According to the study, only 17 archaeological sites in North America have yielded bone needles from the Pleistocene, or Ice Age. No comparable examples have been documented in South America.

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Researchers said the abundance of bone needles, along with finely stitched hides and decorative items, suggests clothing served more than a practical purpose. The evidence indicates that Ice Age clothing also functioned as a form of expression and social identity. Researchers said the findings challenge long-held assumptions, confirming that people living in Oregon at the end of the Ice Age used clothing both as survival technology and as part of their cultural lives.